I fine old Southern family of means that met with financial in hei ratin t's the dubious distinction of thirty-year-old Willa Jackson to hail from a ago. The Blue Ridge Madam-built by Willa's great-great-grandfather and once the finest home in Walls of Water, North Carolina-has stood for years as a monument to misfortune and scandal. Willa has lately learned that an old classmate-socialite Paxton Osgood—has restored the house to its former glory, with plans to turn it into a top-flight inn. But when a skeleton is found buried beneath the property's lone peach tree, long-kept secrets come to light, accompanied by a spate of strange occurrences throughout the town. Thrust together in an unlikely friendship, united by a full-blooded mystery, Willa and Paxton must confront the passions and betrayals that once bound their families-and uncover the truths that have transcended time to touch the hearts of the living. "In this delectable, read-in-one-sitting treasure, Allen once again demonstrates her astonishing ability to believably blur the lines between the magical and the mundane." -Booklist "Peppered with Allen's trademark Southern charm... a must-read for fans of Alice Hoffman." —Library Journal "Keeps readers flipping pages with this dreamy one-nighter." -Southern Literary Review "Immensely readable ... pulses with sensual details." —The Denver Post