My purpose is to tell people’s stories. This book was inspired by the true lives of one of Iowa’s finest men in history, one of the first women murdered in Des Moines, and an ancestor of mine. — by Andrea Mots Rodgers

Coming Soon!

In 1892, aspiring novelist Margo Jacobs believes she has found a story worth writing. Encouraged by the man she loves - Doc - she begins to unravel the buried truth of a murder in Des Moines, Iowa nearly twenty years earlier.

In 1874, Ella Barrett was killed above McFarland’s Store at Walnut and 7th Street. Three men confessed, were convicted, and sentenced. But whispers of a hidden hand behind the crime linger.

Before Margo can finish her book, she is found drowned—her death ruled a suicide by jumping off a bridge. But Doc refuses to believe it.

Now, in Present Day, an elderly woman in a nursing home—dismissed as suffering from dementia—says she is visited by Doc. It’s time to bring justice to Ella Barrett and uncover the true fate of Margo Jacobs.

This is a tale of love across centuries — and about the ghosts that won’t rest until the truth is told.