What do you do when you're trying to forget about the fact that it's been three months, six days, and five hours since you quit smoking, that there's no significant man in your life except your homicidal ex-husband Bubba, and that it's 35 degrees, a temperature most Georgians never have to contend with? Well, if you're anything like Jo Beth Sidden, the toughest breed of Georgia Peach, you get yourself mixed up in some crazy adventure, hop in your van with your trusty bloodhound sidekick and start nosing around.
Jo Beth's latest pursuit takes her back 30 years when she's asked by the sheriff to "quietly" look into one of the town's most crimes ghost stories - the kidnapping and murder of a nanny and child. It seems that the man convicted of the murders has been bounced out of the big house for health reasons, and now rumors are flying about who is moving back to the town to live in the house where it all took place. Of course, it wouldn't seem right for the sheriff to be seen poking into a crime from 1965, so as usual, it's up to gutsy Jo Beth and her fearless bloodhounds to track down the truth and expose the real killer.
Meanwhile, a search-and-rescue call plunges Jo Beth, along with her partner and friend Jasmine and two of her best bloodhounds, into the Okefenokee Swamp to track the mysterious disappearance of a mother and child. As night draws nearer, the search draws the rescue party deeper into dangerous and unforgiving territory, closer to a chilling discovery and face to face with death.
And as if she didn't have enough to do, Jo Beth continues to conduct her now-famous tracking seminar for bloodhound handlers, mends a friendship that has been put to the test, and narrowly escapes an encounter with Bubba, a man bent on nothing short of murder.
Virginia Lanier has done it again -- in the midst of all the tantalizing plot twists and quirky characters, Jo Beth stands out. Her wit, her southern feminism, her compassion and her humanity all make her character and this series the best of its kind. Even the most seasoned mystery lover will be left panting.
