The restless ghost of a Virginia plantation slave lands archivist Andrea Kelley and her detective BFF smack in the middle of a modern-day human trafficking ring and a century old family mystery.
Aaron, the ghost haunting Louie's Gastropub, has become the bane of archivist Andrea Kelley's existence. She's been blocked at every turn by the inability to communicate with him, the glacial pace of historical research just to find a starting place to look for him, and her BFF Detective William Taka's refusal to have anything more to do with ghosts.
But when Aaron leads her to a murder victim outside Louie's, her desperation reaches new heights. Following a lead based on the tattered uniform Aaron sometimes wears, Andrea attracts the attention of the police, shady, finger-in-every-till-in-town businessman Dewey Sanderson, and an even larger shark cruising Charleston, WV's underground.
With his job on the line, Taka agrees to help Andrea discover what Aaron needs from her—and what he knows about the murder. Their bond opens the door to Aaron's past too wide, though, and Andrea suffers the sins of the past. Can she find the grit she needs to ignore the suspicions being cast at her? How about enough to survive the attentions of a killer?