Fall is in the air -- its crisp chill hinting at the approaching holiday season -- yet Faith Fairchild's minister husband, Tom, is not in a festive mood. His job has become routine, and his parish seems to care more about church gossip than worship or service, leaving him doubting his own effectiveness. So when the opportunity to teach for a semester at Harvard's Divinity School comes up, he leaps at the chance . . . but Faith is reluctant. After all, this New York City girl has just gotten used to life in Aleford -- and now she has to move? But soon Faith relents, and within months the family has settled happily into a large, old home in historic Cambridge, just across the river from Boston.

Faith is shocked when she runs into an old boyfriend in downtown Boston. Thirteen years before, Richard Morgan had swept Faith off her feet, then disappeared. But the intelligent, handsome man's return is a happy one for Faith as their friendship is renewed.

Back in Cambridge, though, something is amiss in the temporary Fairchilds' residence.

Faith discovers a diary hidden in the attic by a woman living there in 1946. It reveals unspeakable horror, and soon dark secrets seem to permeate every room. Richard Morgan has secrets of his own, too, and Faith is caught up in solving the mysteries . . . with a murderer lurking a little too close to home.