Michael Dashiell left Rhode Island when he was four years old. Now, after a lifetime in Europe, he has finally come home to get to know his father.

Within twenty-four hours, his father is dead.

And Michael discovers he never really knew him at all.

Clinton Dashiell had another life—one in which the criminal underworld and the police knew him simply as The Professor.

Suddenly, Michael finds himself caught in a war he never knew existed. The men responsible for his father's death have no intention of leaving a surviving son behind, and Michael must rely on local detective Larry Lawton to help him uncover the truth before he becomes the next victim.

But Larry isn't the only one determined to protect him.

Death hasn't stopped Clinton Dashiell.

The Professor has returned with unfinished business of his own. And when darkness falls over Warrick, the men who thought a bullet had ended their troubles discover that killing a gangster doesn't necessarily get rid of him.

Caught between the living and the dead, Michael must decide how much of his father's unwanted legacy he is willing to claim—and how far he will go to survive it.

Gangsters, ghosts, murder, and family secrets collide in 1935 Rhode Island, where some legacies refuse to stay buried.