Edison Bestwell and Benjamin Baldridge have been best friends since the third grade. Life in the small backwoods town of Cripple Creek, Kentucky, usually doesn't move faster than a snail, and the boys enjoy plenty of freedom to explore and get into a bit of innocent mischief. But during the summer between fifth and sixth grade, Benjamin's sister, Lilly, goes missing, sending the town and the friends into turmoil. Lilly is never found, and seven years later on a peculiar autumn night, a tragic incident thrusts Edison and Benjamin back into the enigma surrounding her disappearance. What they find causes them to question everything they know about what is possible-and what is real. Unfortunately, they're soon caught between the law and the pursuit of truth as once again Cripple Creek becomes embroiled in mystery. With federal agent Tucker Davidson and local sheriff Harlen Jenkins hot on their trail, the two friends race across the ridges and through the hollows of backwoods Kentucky with a discovery that could settle the case once and for all. There's just one problem: Who in their right mind will believe them? Written in the tradition of Southern fiction, The Ballad of Edison Bestwell