Aaron Feist is dead, his body found halfway up the stairs in Darlene Singer's house. Stella Feist is the prime suspect. The bloody knife lying in the yard is hers, and Aaron and Stella hadn't been getting along all that well recently. But according to Carl Wilcox's sister, Stella would not have murdered her husband. For Wilcox, the town of Red Ford, North Dakota, harbors plenty of suspects: Feist had been a mite too neighborly, especially around Darlene and her very shy and protected daughter, Carrie. Stella was known to have a temper. The members of Feist's swing band weren't happy with their boss. His business partner may have been giving Feist the business. And Carl's nephew, Hank, was in love with Stella. Just about a year ago, in fact, he'd briefly laid Aaron Feist out cold. As Wilcox sorts through the lives of the people of Red Ford, touching wounds old and new, two things are guaranteed: Aaron Feist's murderer will be discovered and Carl certainly does have a way with widows.