What She Couldn’t Bury

When Mallory Davis buys riverfront property near Front Royal, Virginia, in 1982, she believes the country will give her the quiet, rooted life she has longed for. With Billy Dean beside her and marriage ahead, she is ready to leave danger behind and build something steady at last. But the town carries a history no one is eager to explain. Just down the road, a troubled family is coming apart. As Mallory is drawn into Crystal Stammer’s world, she begins to see that lies have shaped more than one household. When murder exposes what everyone has tried to bury, Crystal becomes the easiest woman to blame. To uncover the truth, Mallory must confront the secrets of a town built on silence, the poisoned ground beneath her new beginning, and the unanswered questions surrounding the man she is about to marry. And as the cost of truth rises, Mallory must decide whether faith is merely something she admires from a distance—or the only ground firm enough to stand on.