A crime reporter returns to her Southern roots and digs up dirt on a friend's murder in this mystery series debut: "Right on target . . . A rollicking good read" (Lawrence Block, award-winning author).

Back in Atlanta after years on the Left Coast, crime reporter Samantha Adams finds that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Beau, the boy who broke her heart eons ago, is now a medical examiner—and just as handsome as ever. The pace is still slow, the tea is still sweet, and backwoods sheriffs still rule with a strong hand and steady aim. But when lawyer and family friend Forrest Ridley turns up dead, Sam has a hard time accepting the sheriff's ruling that it was just an accident.

Around here, good manners and a healthy fear of gossip prevent people from speaking freely, especially about extramarital "slippin'." But when Sam and Beau team up to uncover the truth about Ridley's death, they encounter more than the ordinary Southern reticence. Following a trail of adultery, dirty money, and murder, they soon find themselves in a killer's crosshairs.