When Meg Corey's mother arrives unannounced in Granford, Masschusetts, Meg's sure it's not just to pay a surprise visit to the apple of her eye. The timing is terrible -- it's harvest season and Meg is understaffed in the orchard. Plus Elizabeth Corey is clearly hiding the real purpose of her trip from her daughter...

After an English professor from Amherst -- who is an old friend of her mother -- is found dead on the floor of a cider house, Elizabeth is interrogated by the police, and then grilled by her daughter. She is indeed keeping a secret -- but could Meg's own mother really have committed murder? One thing is clear, someone decided to teach the professor a lesson. And the key to unlocking the mystery may lie with a poet who could not stop for death.