Elli grew up on the banks of the Atchafalaya, she came to her own in the bayous and the shadows of the swamp. Her parents passed years ago, leaving her to tend to the folks that lived near by. She's a midwife, a healer, someone the people near by can call on when the doctors and the nurses of the modern world are too expensive or just too hard to get to. The Dupin cottage, built on a grassy rise amidst the cypress and shadows, has been her family home for generations. She has no plans to leave, she has her place in the community, far from the modern press of Louisiana as it marches into the next century. When the murders start happening along the banks of the Atchafalaya, she knows the government will come calling. They'll look for a killer in all the wrong places. Maybe this time they'll send someone with better eyes and a better soul to do their looking. Only time will tell.