At the Worsham Hotel, guests and staff hunker down, reeling from the effects of the '29 crash. In the middle of the Great Depression, they gaze uneasily into the encroaching darkness. Something cold and menacing is already in their midst. Waiting. Watching. The Gideon boys are the new owners of the massive Whistle-Stop hotel in rural Sunday Silence. Their housekeeper glides from attic to cellar with quiet authority and tightly held secrets. Young Micah and little Cooper seek out the spectres and shadows that abide in the empty rooms and twisting hallways of old, dark buildings. Frail Mr Tapp shares his dreams, Moss hovers near the radio glow and asks Franklin Roosevelt and The Lone Ranger to expunge his wife's voice and his own past. Sheriff Vardell materializes abruptly from the autumn fog. Miss Mimms knits and rocks, and watches with eyes as old and wise as the Sphinx. Into their midst comes Sera Grace, a reporter for The Nashville Banner, sent to investigate the legendary Carr's Creek critter. Is the critter to be found deep in the hills and woods? Is it imbedded within the walls of the hotel itself? Or could it have something to do with the stealthy Miss Grace? She does arrive, after all, on a dark and stormy night… With wicked humour and myriad twists, the story of the critter is exposed for who or what it is, and what it may yet be. The details are uncoiled in an increasingly rapid manner, as we are ambushed by stunning revelations, vivid characters and unexpected shocks. What is the critter? As Mr Tapp comments, "Oh, my! Wonders and illusions; amazing transformations and curious sights that defy explanation!"