The world of Ginger and her brother J.J. is shaken when their mother Carolina commits suicide while they are children. Now, as young adults, their mother's body is torn from her grave. In examining the body for clues that might reveal the grave robber's identity, police discover that rather than a suicide, the mother's death was a murder. Are the grave robber and the murderer the same person?

The book is set in the fictional town of Swan, Georgia. Frances Mayes' descriptions of the small town, the river, the climate, and the townspeople are vivid and ring true.

As a writer, I enjoyed the author's use of the third person omniscient point of view. It was a little bit disconcerting at first, but after I got used to it, it worked for me. Rather than be intrusive, I enjoyed knowing what each person was thinking. It brought me closer to the story, which was a nice surprise.

The book was slow getting started, but I'm glad I stayed with it until the end.