Hannah Chang, a young investigative reporter from Boston, finds her life changed and threatened when she receives word that the father she thought had been killed in the Vietnam War has been murdered in a small town in Texas. Hadrian Dolk, a force in Texas politics and benefactor to Robertsville, proves to be someone who has deceived his neighbors and whose death will change his daughter"s life. Hannah arrives in Robertsville for her father"s funeral with many questions, but the only people who might have known the answers are dead except one. Consuela Ramirez knows Hadrian Dolk"s darkest secret but is unable to reveal the truth. Using her investigative skills, Hannah begins to peel away the layers of false perception on a journey that takes her to the core of corruption and murder and almost destroys her. Hannah"s ancestors believed that the magpie"s song before a journey was a sign of good luck, but what will it hold for Hannah and Consuela?