Mary Francis Colt loved her job working as a secretary for John Fulton, public defender. For a girl growing up in Lakeview, a small Florida town in the turbulent 1960s, it was a solid opportunity for a better life. Mary Francis dreamed of bigger and better things. But that all comes crashing down when she is kidnapped by Bonelle Jackson, the irrational and dangerous mother of two men her boss helped sent to jail. When their mother's plot to break them out of jail is foiled and one of the sons is killed by police, Bonelle brutally murders the innocent Mary Francis and abandons her mutilated body in the swamps. Soon, law enforcement officials are hot on the manhunt for the escaped convicts and their murderous mother. Benji Goldman and Charlie Pepper become involved when they discover the body of Junebug Black floating in the water off of Monkey Island in Lake Harris. Now they must determine if these two murders related-before another person winds up dead.