Bartholomew Christian Crane is a criminal defence lawyer who wins. Thirty-three, silver-tongued and driven by a moral code that preaches "There are no such things as lies, only misperceptions," Barth is ripe for the first murder trial of his career. Two fourteen-year-old girls have gone missing and presumably lie on the bottom of a lake just outside an economically depressed northern town. Though everyone believes the girls' English teacher is guilty, no bodies have yet been discovered and there is little other substantial evidence. As Barth begins work on a trial that quickly slides into a nightmarish blur between dream and reality, he feels an uneasy connection to the victims — and to the ghost that haunts the lake's waters. (From Harper Perennial)