First published 2026
A journalist arrives in a crumbling Tennessee town with her college mentor, drawn by a cold case that has defined the community for decades. The mysterious death of a young woman years earlier still casts a shadow over the residents, who guard their secrets behind closed doors and careful silences. As the journalist digs deeper into the case, she uncovers connections that reach into her own family history. The answers she seeks prove more personal and shocking than either she or her mentor anticipated. What began as professional curiosity becomes a reckoning with blood ties and buried truths. The investigation forces her to confront not just the town's dark past, but her own unexpected place within it.
Genres: mystery, crime, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: Tennessee
164 pages · Paperback · Apex Publishing LLC