Velda Brotherton returns to Grace County with her darkest Twist of Poe mystery yet… THE PIT AND THE PENANCE. A ghost from her past threatens small town reporter Jessie West and those closest to her as she works to uncover a sinister secret found in the burned-out shed of Grace County's newest resident. Things become even stranger when two bodies turn up that could be connected to the case, but the link is anything but solid. Then a guest at the local bed and breakfast disappears, and the Sheriff himself is behaving strangely. As if Jessie and her lover, Deputy Sheriff Dallas Starr, didn't have enough to deal with, federal agents and the mob have chosen this particular moment to descend upon idyllic Cedarton, Arkansas and start raising hell. It's up to Jessie and Dal to put the clues together and navigate the treacherous, muddy waters of loyalty, secrecy, and long-buried secrets-before the ones who would rather those skeletons never get unearthed stop them for good.