From Charleston to Hilton Head, Family matters . . . and murder is relative. When a fifth cousin twice removed calls Bay Tanner--a young, recently widowed financial consultant--from the Beaufort County Jail, it's no accident. Mercer Mary Prescott spent a lot of time and trouble locating Bay on the family tree, and she needs more than bail out of the relationship. What she's really after is a secret Bay's not willing to reveal--yet. But when Bay generously takes Mercer back to the family mansion of Presqu'isle, she finds that this distant kin comes with a lot of personal baggage--and some very dangerous pursuers. Before Bay can help straighten out Mercer's problems, the mousy young woman disappears. Bay begins a desperate hunt for her "shirttail" cousin through the twisted alleys of the past, from Civil War days to a plantation called Perdition House, and to one last deadly fight. . . . . . . "Sue Grafton, Sara Paretsky, and Marcia Muller come to mind as the quintessential writers of the modern female private eye novel. Wall, in a quiet and unassuming way, has produced a body of work of equal quality. Highly recommended." --Library Journal on The Mercy Oak Third book in the Bay Tanner mystery series.