Investigative writer Phoebe Hall's New York life is unexpectedly derailed off the fast track when her long-term boyfriend leaves just as she is accused of plagiarizing her bestselling unauthorized celebrity biography. Looking for a quiet place to l ick her wounds and pick up the pieces, Phoebe jumps at the offer to teach at a small private college in a rustic Pennsylvania town.

But the campus's quaint cafes and looming maple trees belie evil happenings. The body of a junior girl in Phoebe's class washes up from the nearby river and soon, hidden secrets begin to surface among the students: rumors of past crimes and abuses wrought by a mythic secret society known as The Sixes.

Determined to find answers, Phoebe quietly embarks on a search for clues--a quest that soon raises dark memories of her own boarding school days. Plunging deeper into danger with every step, Pheobe knows she's close to unmasking a killer. But with truth comes an unexpected--and deeply terrifying--revelation: the past can't be ourtrun . . . and starting over can be a crime punishable by death.