When an inflatable carnival ride is destroyed, the first in a series of strange events surrounding a traveling carnival, judge Deborah Knott wonders about a carny's charm bracelet and her connection to Deborah's own family.

"As Judge Deborah Knott presides over a case involving a barroom brawl, it becomes clear that deep resentments over race, class, and illegal immigration are simmering just below the surface in the North Carolina countryside"--Provided by publisher.

"On a quiet August morning, Judge Deborah Knott's father Kezzie makes a shocking discovery on a remote corner of his farm: the body of a man bludgeoned to death. Investigating this crime, Deborah's husband, Sheriff's Deputy Dwight Bryant, soon uncovers a long-simmering hostility between Kezzie and the slain man over a land dispute. The local newspaper implies that Deborah's family may have had something to do with the murder-and that Dwight is dragging...

After a beautiful young cheerleader dies in a car crash that was not an accident, Judge Deborah Knott and sheriff's deputy Dwight Bryant must uncover what really happened before more death further clouds the Christmas season in North Carolina's Colleton County.

A mysterious ornithologist staying at Mrs. Lattimore's Victorian home and doing research on Southern vultures seems familiar to Judge Deborah Knott and Sheriff's Deputy Dwight Bryant, expecially after a murderer strikes.