"This urgent, cleverly plotted high stakes thriller is set in motion by botched attack on two law clerks leaving one dead and the other in a coma. The ensuing cover up leaves a string of bodies and too many players at cross-purposes. It also leaves Chief Justice Clarissa Baxter with a target on her back. We'll need an off the grid hero with friends in high places: enter retired FBI agent-turned-boardinghouse landlady, Ethel Fiona Crestwater (legend)...

"Towns like Gainesboro, North Carolina, may be small but go big on local traditions. When funeral director and part-time deputy sheriff Barry Clayton and his childhood nemesis, Archie Donovan, Jr., unite to create a fundraising float in Gainesboro's annual Apple Festival Parade, what could go wrong? With Archie involved - anything!"--

When his father was stricken with Alzheimer's, Barry left a police career in Charlotte to return to his tiny Appalachian hometown of Gainesboro, North Carolina, to help run the family funeral business. Barry's loving, respectful relationships with his parents and uncle are part of what makes him such a compelling protagonist: family loyalty is the driving force in his life. In this adventure, Barry is preparing for the funeral of Vietnamese Y'Grok...

After moving to the Appalachian mountains to manage his ailing father's funeral home, ex-cop Barry Clayton unearths the skeleton of a murdered man, whose wallet contains a photograph of Barry's girlfriend, while moving a grave.

With his father in the grip of Alzheimer's, Charlotte, N.C., cop Barry Clayton has quit his job and returned to his hometown, a small mountain village near Asheville, to help his mother and his Uncle Wayne run the funeral business. Local police chief Tommy Lee Wadkins, recognizing that Barry regrets leaving the police, finds ways to involve the reluctant mortician in his investigations. Their latest case, searching for fugitive Dallas Willard, touches...