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Sinopsis

Since the first Deborah Knott novel, Bootlegger&rsquo,s Daughter, swept the Edgar, Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Awards for 1993, Margaret Maron has brought to life the landscape and people, the history and current concerns of a contemporary South. As akin to Carson McCullers and William Faulkner as she is to her fellow mystery writers, Maron continues her acclaimed series with a chilling story of suspense: a searing crisis of race and region and other burning issues of the heart . . . One place the two Souths&mdash,black and white&mdash,meet is in Judge Deborah Knott&rsquo,s courtroom. From the pretty yet aggressive D.A. who requests harsh sentences for her fellow African-Americans to the three white teens caught desecrating a family graveyard with hate slogans, racial bias still tries the soul and tests the sense of justice in Colleton County, North Carolina. Busy with her reelection campaign and building a new house on land that has been in her family for generations, Deborah has both deep roots and a professional stake in her community. She&rsquo,s shaken when her nephew A.K. is arrested with a group of vandalizing teens at a local cemetery. Torn between her duty as a judge and her loyalty to her large, close-knit family, Deborah has to decide how far she can go to protect him. Then the first black church burns. Determined to investigate the arson in which A.K. has become a suspect, Deborah Knott is quickly swept into the dark undercurrents of prejudice, pain,m and betrayal in this rural Southern county. Add to this the sudden arrival of a 1970s black activist-turned-public-figure, the emerging secrets of an angry young woman and the burning of two more churches, and Deborah faces a crisis that will challenge her political acumen, her detective skills, and her core beliefs. The sins of the past return to forever change the present in Margaret Maron&rsquo,s most riveting, emotionally moving novel to date, a mystery that involves color and kinship, and the unbreakable bonds of love . . .