What You Leave Behind: A Novel BY Wanda M. Morris

Award-winning author Wanda Morris returns with a powerful, haunting thriller about Deena Wood, a lawyer who, after the mysterious disappearance of a local landowner and the death of his sister months before, uncovers a conspiracy dating back to Reconstruction that persists in half the United States today.

Deena's life has fallen apart after losing her beloved mother, her marriage, and her prestigious job at an Atlanta law firm. In desperate need of a “dayclean,” a fresh start as the Geechee people of coastal Georgia call it, she returns to her childhood home in Brunswick, Georgia, to heal. But her return is far from the respite she hoped for. Seeking peace, she often drives through the city and unwittingly stumbles onto the oceanfront property of a loner widower fighting to keep land that's been in his family since the Civil War. He threatens her and warns her to stay away. Soon after, he disappears, and his expensive property is quickly put up for sale.

Curious about the man's fate, Deena digs into his disappearance and discovers a family legacy at risk. What begins as idle curiosity turns into a deadly game of illegal land grabs and property redevelopment targeting poor and rural communities, with dark and powerful forces at work. Unknowingly, Deena finds herself ensnared in a nightmarish scheme that threatens her community and family. To stop the sinister forces at play, she must seek help from an unexpected source and do whatever it takes before she becomes their next target.