When Annie Gore leaves the Army, in which she enlisted to escape her troubled childhood, she sets up as a private investigator. A young man approaches her to investigate a case ten years old. Three little girls disappeared and although one has been returned, the other two were never seen again. Annie does not want to take the case. It reminds her too much of her own background. But she is broke.

She goes to the holler and begins investigating, stirring up a lot of feelings in the town. She is asked to drop the case more than once. But she persists, although someone shoots at her. And then another little girl disappears.

Threaded through the mystery is a superstition about a witch and the two girls she takes as her own. The characters are clearly drawn and the mystery is so clever I never guessed who the kidnapper and murderer were.

Highly recommended.