Every cemetery has a story. Every grave has its secrets. Amelia Gray was nine when she first became aware of ghosts - those beautiful, nebulous, dangerous beings that drift among us, seeking what they can never have again - life. That's why they attach themselves like supernatural leeches to their hosts, draining them of warmth and energy. As a child, Amelia's playground was an old cemetery, a hallowed place where her father worked as caretaker. Alone and often lonely, she wandered through the lush fern beds an curtains of gray-green moss, pretending the stone angels and cherubs were fairies and gnomes and she their ruler, queen of her very own graveyard kingdom. Nowadays Amelia is a cemetery restorer, traveling all over the South, cleaning up forgotten and abandoned graveyards and repairing worn and broken headstones. In order to protect herself, Amelia has long adhered to the rules laid down by her father: (1) Never acknowledge the dead; (2) Never stray far from hallowed ground; (3) Never associate with those who are haunted and (4) Never, ever, tempt fate. But one day John Devlin, an enigmatic police detective haunted by the ghosts of his dead wife and daughter, enters Amelia's world and everything begins to change, including the rules that have always kept her safe. Devlin's there to investigate the discovery of a young woman's brutalized body in an old Charleston graveyard that Amelia has been hired to restore. The clues to the killer - and to his other victims - lie in headstone symbolism that only Amelia can decipher. Soon it becomes clear that Devlin needs Amelia's help to trap to brutal killer seemingly intent on "repopulating" an old cemetery. But Devlin's nearness and their growing attraction constitute the very gravest of threats for Amelia. Devlin's ghosts shadow his every move, feeding off his warmth, sustaining their presence with his energy. To warn him would be to invite them into Amelia's life but something she's vowed never to do. However, the pull of Devlin's magnetism grows ever stronger even as the symbols lead Amelia closer to the killer and to the gossamer veil that separates this world from the next.
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