Lily Bard started over in the sleepy town of Shakespeare, Arkansas, where she works as a cleaning lady. But she's about to go back to where she came from--and where Lily goes, danger follows. . . Determined to move beyond her violent past, Lily heads to her hometown of Bartley for her estranged sister's Christmas Eve wedding. But there is something in the air besides holiday cheer--murder. The town's doctor and nurse have been bludgeoned to death--and...

From Charlaine Harris, the #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author behind HBO's hit series True Blood and NBC's Midnight, Texas, the second installment in a mystery series that pulls no punches… When Lily Bard agrees to open the gym for her sometime-boyfriend, it's a sign of something she's rejected for years-connection. Trust. The beginnings of being part of a community. And when she finds the corpse of a murdered bodybuilder waiting...

Cleaning woman/karate expert Lily Bard is determined to leave the investigation of lifelong Shakespeare, Arkansas resident Deedra Dean's murder strictly to the police, but she is compelled to take on the role of sleuth when the authorities come up with a long list of suspects and very few clues.

Oscar Hijuelos vividly brings to life the joys, desires, and disappointment of American life witnessed through the experience of a formerly prosperous Cuban émigré named Lydia Espana—now a cleaning woman in New York. In magnetic prose, he juxtaposes Lydia's tale with the stories of her clients, contrasting her experiences with the secret lives of those for whom she works.