Escaping the city, and her coed-chasing ex-husband, part-time journalist and full-time failed mystery writer Emily Kincaid has moved into a cozy cabin nestled in the woods of northern Michigan. Emily spends her days writing for the local newspaper and crafting her latest forgettable novel. Then one morning her quiet life turns grisly when a severed head tumbles out of her garbage can.

For the three years after her divorce, journalist Emily Kinkaid has been living in rural northern Michigan, writing for local publications and writing mysteries that aren’t selling. One day she finds the head of a local woman in her garbage can. Working with prickly sheriff’s deputy Dolly Wakowski, widely disliked because she has taken it upon herself to keep the local back roads safe from speeders, Emily begins an investigation independent of the state police. When another murder occurs, it seems that a local group of nature-loving elderly women has been targeted.