Elizabeth Goodweather lives in the Appalachian Mountains among many neighbors spread throughout the hills and valleys. She has kept up on the news of some of her closer neighbors. However, while others live relatively close by, she hasn't even known of their existence and the strange lifestyles they lead.

An elderly neighbor's simple son is found drowned in a river below a bridge. The man's mother knows he was murdered and asks Elizabeth to help her solve the crime because the local sheriff discounts the death as an accident. Elizabeth is still mourning the accidental death of her husband years before. Pouring her life into the herb and flower garden business she and her husband created, life and happiness are eluding her, yet she's trying to find peace.

Elizabeth vows to help the neighbor and, through her investigations, she meets a preacher with a flock of followers who use serpents in their church services. She meets another preacher who brings followers to him at a lake or river to baptize them. She meets racist militiamen who live life to the extreme, and she also meets members of a cult too strange for words. She had no idea this was all happening so close to her piece of heaven on the side of the mountain.

Elizabeth was raised in a strict religious church where there were no outcries of praise and amen during the service. She hasn't forgiven God for taking her husband anyway. Yet, through this search for the answers to her neighbor's death, Elizabeth finds herself pulled toward the ways of the people who live in the mountains, as well as their superstitious and extraordinary religious beliefs as she searches for answers.

SIGNS IN THE BLOOD is an interesting story. It made me curious about the lives of those who live in the Appalachian Mountains. I felt for Elizabeth's pain and loneliness and applauded her determination to not stop until she discovered the truth. This debut by Ms. Lane is an intriguing mystery.