Mary Minor "Harry" Harristeen investigates a murder in Albermarle County, Virginia with assistance from her beloved pets, including cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter and dogs Pirate and Tucker.

Ruby Bozarth, a newcomer to Rosedale, Mississippi, is also fresh to the Mississippi Bar--and to the docket of Circuit Judge Baylor, who taps Ruby as defense counsel in a racially charged felony. The murder of a woman from one of the town's oldest families has Rosedale's upper crust howling for blood, and the prosecutor is counting on Ruby's inexperience to help him deliver a swift conviction. Ruby's client is a college football star who has returned...