The residents of a small New Hampshire town will do anything to protect the secrets of Melanie Paquette and Eric Windhurst, who, in 1985, murdered Melanie's stepfather--a crime born from adolescent passion and a young girl's desperation.

"In 1889, Iowa farmer John Elkins, and his young wife, Hattie, are brutally attacked and murdered in their bed. Eight days later, their son, eleven-year-old Wesley Elkins, is arrested and charged with the crime. The community is shocked by both the gruesome facts of the homicide and the age of the accused perpetrator, a small, quiet boy weighing just 75 pounds. The Plea is an accessible and fast-moving story that delivers a complete, complex, and...