Leni Spencer, a small-town newspaper reporter in Hawkinston, a rural community in central Missouri, is baffled when the body of her cousin Tiger, a popular student at the local college, is found with his throat slashed during a corn husking competition.
Leni and her friend Natalie Williams, a graduate assistant, suspect Tiger’s death is linked to administrative chaos at the college, a dubious archeological dig, the disappearance of a Native American warrior’s spear, and a wave of breaking-and-entering rattling the town residents. Doug Joseph, the sole detective on the Hawkinston police force, repeatedly warns the women of the danger of sleuthing on their own, but in Leni’s mind, what he calls sleuthing is, in her mind, investigative research. It’s what reporters do, she says.
Leni and Doug enjoy an amicable professional relationship, but this tension stands in the way of the personal relationship that Leni desires. After a raging arson fire, a second body is found in the basement of a burned-out historic gristmill. To honor the victim’s memory, she and Doug carry the remains to New Orleans for a hometown burial. The solemnity of the funeral is balanced by the joy for life found in every fiber of New Orleans.
Leni feels safe there, yet Doug’s prophesy of danger becomes real during a vibrant parade of Mardi Gras Indian tribes. Leni is kidnapped and forced to rely on her wits to save herself. In this macabre setting, their relationship grows. Back home in Hawkinston, the college president climbs atop Old Main and threatens to jump. Leni’s investigation elicits clues from friends, colleagues, and relatives confirming her suspicions, and a year fraught with mystery ends peacefully.