<P>In this page-turning novel set in the Depression-era South New York Times bestselling author Mary Monroe transports readers to a small Alabama town where home is not always a sanctuary and two neighboring families let pleasantries mask increasing resentment. . . Bootlegging was Milton and Yvonne Hamilton's ticket out of poverty prison time and plain bad luck. Now they've moved on-to a bigger richer pool of clientele-right in their own respectable new middle-class backyard. And their growing friendship with seemingly-perfect couple Joyce and Odell Watson is proving golden in more ways than one . . . As Milton soon learns Odell is hiding an outside family and dubious business dealings. It's the perfect recipe for a blackmail scheme that will help Milton hide his own dirty secrets-even from Yvonne. Better yet he can take ever more dangerous risks to ace out his liquor-smuggling rivals-and add a lucrative temptation to his illicit services. And Yvonne emboldened by her husband's new gravy train delights in tormenting Joyce about everything the snobbish matron doesn't have-especially children. But even a winning hand can be played too far. Pushed past their limits Odell and Joyce will play on Milton's careless boasting-to get him and Yvonne out of their lives for good. And soon a devastating frame-up will plunge one couple into a living nightmare-and set the stage for explosive retribution . . .</P>