Shot while hunting in 1972, Anselm Bannon is the first clue in a literary mystery that began in 1864. Cotton Lee, hired by Max Mayfair to help investigate Anselm's death, finds ten gold coins minted in the Civil War in Anselm's satchel. The gold coins turn out to be a gift delivered in 1864 by Union soldier Albert Bannon to his southern mistress, Sophie, who is pregnant with his child. Sophie gives the coins to her enslaved black maid in payment for...