When local football coach and hero Tim Duffy is accused of improper behavior, lawyer-turned-herbalist China Bayles investigates and follows a trail of obsession and murder that may lead to her own doorstep.

While harvesting yucca plants to make paper, China Bayles finds a body-cause of death: unknown. It seems that the simple lives of many residents of Pecan Springs hide complex and dangerous pasts. And now, while also unraveling secrets that hit close to home, China must set the record straight-and find a killer.

New York Times bestselling author Susan Wittig Albert takes China Bayles on a trip down memory lane, where one fresh murder and several cold cases force her to face her dark past...
China's herb shop and catering business may be thriving, but she's still reeling from her father's death--and isn't remotely interested in her half-brother Miles's investigation of it. Although, when fate forces her to get involved, China realizes it's time to bring the past to light--or else it will haunt her the rest of her life.
But China and McQuaid discover that Miles may have been...

Evil can worm its way into the purest of hearts...
China Bayles needs rest, and a historic Shaker village in Kentucky seems the ideal place for it. There she can learn about the intriguing, dwindling Shaker culture and its medicinal herbs. Unfortunately, the village is plagued with misfortune and strife. China wonders if, with the help of some age-old journals full of scandal, she can get to the bottom of it. But after a shocking death occurs during her stay, China will plunge into the archives of another time to connect the sins of the past with a modern-day murder.

China Bayles isn't happy when a Texas wind blows her husband's ex-wife, and the mother of China's stepson, into her herb shop. Sally is known to have a split personality and falls into constant trouble with the law - but she claims she has nowhere else to turn.