1914: Sixteen-year-old Etterly, running from something, hides inside the trunk of a tree and disappears. The police search but find no trace. Her family and friends wrack their brains, but come up with nothing. And so slowly life returns to normal. The hole in the tree is boarded up and the village of Sackwater moves on. Only Etterly's best friend, Betty, clings to hope, insisting she can hear her friend calling for help. 1940: A skeleton is discovered buried in the woods. Though most clues have long since decayed, it is wearing the necklace Etterly had on the day she went missing. Long haunted by her friend's fate, Detective Betty Church is determined to solve the case once and for all.

Praise for the author:

“I love this sort of book ... Betty has no truck with nonsense. Yay Betty ... Is this a rival for M.C. Beaton, my favourite of all time? We shall see” FROST MAGAZINE

“A nicely complex plot, some genuinely funny moments and some serious observations about the approaching war are balanced by an underlying darkness” CRIME REVIEW

“A wonderfully gripping, old-fashioned murder mystery” THE LADY

“A rival for M.C. Beaton” FROST MAGAZINE