Dog breeder and kennel owner Mae December has become something of an amateur sleuth in her small hometown of Rosedale, Tennessee. So when Mae's sister, July, discovers her former boyfriend dying alone in the historic Booth Mansion, Mae is determined to find out who wanted him dead. Tommy was July's first love, but he disappeared with no explanation fifteen years ealier. What drove him away? And who shot him in the back? As July and Mae sift through old motives and new threats, July's marriage implodes and the case puts a strain in Mae's relationship with sheriff Ben Bradley. But the sisters can't stop digging up the past in a case that seems to involve more and more of their friends and neighbors.