Joe L. Hensley has been a lawyer and a judge in small Indiana towns, and his books about lawyer (soon to be a judge) Don Robak have the smack and tang of elemental truth. They are also full of wisdom, sadness, and wonderfully precise writing that can capture the essence of a character in a sentence. Recovering slowly from the stomach wound he suffered in Robak's Run and separated from his wife and 10-year-old son because of his attraction to violent cases, Robak gets involved in the defense of Bertha Jones, an eccentric herbalist accused of poisoning her teenage niece and nephew. The case becomes a witch hunt in more ways than one, as a local evangelist whips up public sentiment against Bertha and her gay lawyer.