In 1912 what was arguably the most violent crime, the darkest mystery, in Midwest history took place. Law enforcement officers encountered a scene of unimagined violence: eight victims, six of them children, bludgeoned to death with an ax while they slept. Everywhere there were clues. But inexperienced investigators failed, and private detectives took over. When Detective James Newton Wilkerson charged that a respected state senator had been motivated to the unthinkable by the promiscuity of his daughter-in-law, the community was drawn into a bitter and accelerating struggle between powerful men. And then a deranged and perverted minister confessed. . . .

For Charley Willey, editor of the Lewis Standard, things were not going well. He was sick, he was going blind, and his paper was losing money. The Iowa Highway Commission made him a promise, broke it, and forever diminished his town. The state had some making up to do. Willey, knowing his days of influence were dwindling, had a plan. To the State Board of Conservation he was willing to entrust the preservation of a southwest Iowa jewel-if they would take it. A bad situation was soon to get worse.