In this novel, retired Virginia General District Court Judge R. Morgan Armstrong tells about a murder of a rich Baltimore banker during the Depression. The murder occurs in the summer of 1932, Matthew Cubley, at age fourteen, goes to work for the hotel owner, his Uncle TJ. Soon after his arrival at the central Virginia resort hotel, the banker is fatally stabbed with the hotel chefâ s knife. Matt needs to find the real killer before his friend, the hotel chef, is sentenced to die by the court or killed by vigilantes. His life is further complicated when not one but two young girls his age vie for his affection. The plot twists and turns in this tale of consequences.