From the bestselling author of Mallawindy and the Woody Creek series

"Dettman ... is brilliant at depicting the seemingly inconsequential murmurs of small-town life" Sun-Herald

For forty-four years Stella Templeton has been a dutiful daughter and a good citizen, living in Maidenville, population 2,800 where nothing happens.

Until one hot summer afternoon.

An ugly act has lifted the respectable skirts of Maidenville and mystery starts to surround the daughter of the local minister. Then the disappearance of a sixteen-year-old boy adds to the neighbourhood confusion. Does something rotten lurk behind the neatly trimmed hedges and white picket fences that divide this sleepy town? No-one comes close to knowing the dreadful truth-but after forty-four years of doing the right thing, Stella Templeton is starting to blossom...

"Dettman writes compulsively readable stories" The Age

Fans of Rosalie Ham's The Dressmaker will love Joy Dettman.