Growing up in Peculiar County, Kansas, is a mighty...well, peculiar experience. n 1965, things get even stranger for Dibby Caldwell, the mortician's fifteen year old daughter. A young boy's ghost haunts Dibby into unearthing the circumstances of his death. Nobody—living or dead—wants her to succeed. James, the new mop-topped, bad boy at school doesn't help. Dibby can't get him out of her head, even though she doesn't trust him. No, sir, there's nothing much more peculiar than life in Peculiar County...except maybe death in Peculiar County.