Bethany Herbert, daughter of a legendary healer, leaves the South for the new black community of Nicodemus, Kansas. Despite the hardships, the community comes to love the prairie. Bethany's mother, Queen Bess, comes to Nicodemus, as does the handsome lawyer Jed Talbot, who galvanizes the settlers. Bethany resists the call of her heart because Queen Bess warns her the best healers are chaste and single. When the Herbert women's medical procedures are undermined, Bethany nearly succumbs to Queen Bess's call for total segregation from the whites Bess hates. Sinister forces come into play through white politicians seeking the black vote, and sabotage by a woman within Nicodemus who yearns for the old color hierarchy. The people of Nicodemus fight back and ultimately triumph.

After a gruesome killing at the Carlton County, Kansas, livestock feedyard, Sheriff Sam Abbot, Undersheriff Lottie Albright, and her ranching husband deputy know their resources are over-stretched. Still, none of their team or neighboring law enforcement in Western Kansas welcomes the idea of a regional crime center.Kansas Bureau of Investigation Agent Dimon suggests the murder may not be a simple local affair. Unconvinced, Lottie— still director of the historical society—calls for stories from families whose ancestors were part of groups colonizing Kansas. Doña Francisca Díaz is the ancient head of one such clan.It turns out, Francisca's great grandson Victor was the murder victim. Francisca, a fabled curandera with terribly damaged hands, insists she knows why Victor was killed. The key, she claims, is in ancient documents. At Doña Francisca's invitation, Lottie visits the Díaz' property. In a drought-ridden area, the land is lush. Francisca wants Lottie to train...

It's the Garden of Eden. And the weather is absolutely freezing!The discovery of the body of a young man inside the mausoleum of the Civil War veteran who commissioned this bizarre sculpture park makes the blood of Undersheriff Lottie Albright and her husband's Aunt Dorothy run cold. Dorothy Mercer, paying a visit to Western Kansas from Manhattan, may be a bestselling mystery novelist, but she is truly shocked confronting murder firsthand.But the real bone-chiller is yet to come.With snow coming on, Lottie and Dorothy act quickly to preserve the crime scene while awaiting the arrival of Sheriff Sam Adams. Eyes, and boots, on the ground, they measure and photograph underneath the park's bizarre parade of tree-high sculptures. Why would they look up?Reaching Woman stands some forty feet in the air, trapped in stone. And in her arms—a ghastly bundle. It takes the sharp eyes of the old sheriff to spot her burden. It breaks all hearts when it's brought to earth, a second body,...