A severed foot, a savage killer, a rescued pitbull...and a headstrong reporter with an unpaid debt. She thrilled you with The Purloined Skull. Chilled you in The Tell-Tale Stone. Now Velda Brotherton returns to Grace County with her darkest mystery yet, The Pit and the Penance. A skeleton from her past threatens Jessie West and those closest to her as she works to uncover a secret found in the burned-out shed of a new resident in town. Deputy Sheriff Dallas Starr is shoved off a mountain and injured. Two bodies turn up that could be connected to the threat, but the link is anything but solid. Deputy Tinker is convinced a guest at the local bed and breakfast has disappeared, and the Sheriff himself is behaving strangely. As if Jessie and Dal didn't have enough to deal with, federal agents and the mob have chosen now to descend upon idyllic Cedarton, Arkansas and start raising hell. Most concerning of all, what does an ugly little pit bull named Brad know?