After falling off the top rung of the career ladder, big- city attorney Tal Jefferson lands in her small, Southern hometown to start her career and her life over. In between refurbishing her grandmother's old home and getting small- time clients out of DUI charges, Tal is trying to keep a low-profile, de-stress and stay away from the booze.

Tal has recently reconnected with a former high-school chum and famous mysterious portrait painter, Travis Whitlock. Coincidentally, Travis has recently returned home looking for the simple life as well. Tal and Travis have an odd, yet strangely compatible relationship that's based more on their mutual history and intellect than sex-appeal.

Everything seems to be going according to Tal's new life- plan until she finds a decapitated head down by the river -- a head that happens to belong to the estranged husband of her office assistant, June. What follows is a gritty game of cat-and-mouse between Tal, Travis, June and a band of rough-and-tumble bad guys who are hell-bent on eliminating anyone or anything that gets in the way of meeting their illegal objectives.

I was immediately impressed with the rich, vivid and earthy descriptions the author gave to every aspect of the book -- the characters, the plot and the scenes. I was captivated by the mystery of each character, which kept me turning pages well past my bedtime. The only disappointment for me was the book ended rather abruptly with many unanswered questions. The author suggests throughout the book more information will be divulged about each characters' past, but then ends before that happens. Overall, I devoured the book, but was left wanting more!