The Moonlight Diner (Paperback or Softback)

Oak Springs, New York. 1958.

Nineteen-year-old Prairie O'Shea has put her nursing school dreams on hold to help run her family's 24-hour highway diner. She's used to quiet nights and familiar faces, until a rain-soaked morning brings Marrok, a smooth-talking African American drifter with a bloody arm and no explanation.

Prairie's curiosity deepens when a detective shows up asking questions about a string of unsolved murders along the diner's stretch of road. As her ex-boyfriend Billy grows more aggressive and Marrok steps in to protect her, Prairie begins to wonder if the stranger might be more misunderstood than dangerous. But when she witnesses him in a violent act, doubt creeps back in.

Drawn to Marrok and disturbed by what she's seen, Prairie sets out to uncover the truth. What she finds in the woods one night shakes her to the core and forces her to confront a question she never thought she'd ask: What if the man she can't stop thinking about isn't a man at all?