In early 1960, Mae Lou McKitchen went to work for the Wayborn family. Six months later, when Kate Wayborn was found dead of multiple stab wounds, Mae Lou was kneeling overcthe body, holding the bloody knife and crying. There was never any doubt the woman the press called the Negro Lizzie Borden had murdered her employer. The question was, why?

Kennedy and Nixon are vying for the presidency as lunch counter sit-ins spread throughout the South. Sam Cooke and Chubby Checker are on the radio. The Untouchables and Perry Mason are on TV. Black women lawyers in Buffalo can be counted on a single hand. One of them, Temple Scott, is locked in the courtroom fight of her life. To save Mae Lou McKitchen from the electric chair, Temple must uncover the story behind the killing. Murder is always a...