In her acclaimed last book, The Body in Blackwater Bay, Gosling took us to a quaint, tree-lined Great Lakes resort town whose summer denizens were rocked by a ghastly murder. Now Gosling returns to bucolic Blackwater Bay in time for the town's annual Halloween Festival, known as the Howl. Usually it's lively as all get-out; this year it's going to be sheer hell.For local folks, the Howl means burning bonfires, outrageous pranks, easy liquor, and loose morals. But for Sheriff Matt Gabriel, it is always a night of grave concern. Matt worries that the mischief will turn ugly, the mayhem dangerous. Somebody might even get killed. And on this moonlit, firelit Halloween night, Matt's worst fears are about to come true.The call is as urgent as it is unexpected. There's been an auto accident. Matt hurries to the old post road, only to find the town druggist crushed behind the wheel of his vintage red Corvette. But Matt's old friend dies with an unfinished deathbed statement on his lips...a strange confession that Matt cannot fathom.Searching for the truth leads the sheriff down a dark path to the edge of a cliff on a Halloween long gone...and a harrowing accident that will not die. Now Matt Gabriel faces ever more dire stakes - the treacherous past stealthily engulfs the town in a web of murder, blackmail, old deaths, and older suspicions. Helped by a clever young lawyer and his girlfriend, Matt struggles to solve this mystery, which could destroy the reputations - and the very lives - of Blackwater Bay's most solid citizens; this chain of deadly events set in motion by A Few Dying Words. Read Less