What do you call a blonde skeleton in the closet? Last year's hide-'n'-seek champ.

It's autumn in the heartland, where football rules, homecoming royalty reigns, and full moons don't just refer to a passing high school varsity bus. But this year, Tressa Jayne Turner isn't just enjoying the candy corn, popcorn balls and caramel apples. This reporter is on a mission to sniff out a serious story that will impress not only her skeptical family and friends, but also her boss at the Grandville Gazette.

And it turns out "Calamity Jayne" is in luck! Eccentric and reclusive bestselling writer, Elizabeth Courtney Howard is coming to little ol' Grandville to conduct some family business and finish her latest book. So, what's stopping Tressa from scoring this journalistic coup? A blackmailing, six-foot-two-inch homecoming queen candidate with all the charm of Frankenstein in taffeta, a rival reporter out to scoop the competition, a séance-hosting grandmother, and the sexy Ranger Rick Townsend who could tempt a nun to rethink her vows. Suddenly Tressa better watch her step, as her exposé uncovers skeletons in everyone's closets and a haunted house that's too creepy for comfort.