Camille Preaker works for a daily paper in Chicago that can be described as “second-rate”. Her editor, Frank Curry (who is also a friend in a parental kind of way) sends Camille on her very first assignment.
A murder happened in Wind Gap, Camille’s hometown. This wasn’t news, as the murder happened long enough ago to have already passed through the news cycle. A pre-teen girl was found dead in a creek with a rope around her neck and all of her teeth missing. Now, another pre-teen girl has disappeared.