New York: Cliff Street / Harper Collins, (2000) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - Author's third novel, the story of 57-year-old Stuart Jordan, an obstetrician who's also the medical examiner in Hubbard County, North Carolina. Called to a murder scene where a silent woman sits nursing her baby amidst the blood and gore, Doc makes a promise that results in his taking temporary custody of the infant, against the wishes of the dead father's family, a clan of petty thugs and criminals. . his insights into the poverty-scarred lives of many of the Blue Ridge Mountains' inhabitants are penetrating and sympathetic. SIGNED on the title page. 386 pp. ISBN: 0-060194324.