A deadly car crash in Cape Alden, New Jersey sidelines Marigold Burnside's career when she is left with a severe head injury. With her life in a shambles and few prospects on the horizon, Mari decides to stay in Cape Alden and finish what she started when she came to the small beach town - researching the unsolved murder of a young, pregnant woman named Charlotte Johnson. Even though her brain is impaired, Mari has acquired a new gift that might prove useful as she investigates the events that led up to the crime - Mari sees ghosts.
Another person involved in the accident that impaired Mari is a man named Phil Curry. Like Mari, Phil's life has changed for the worse, and as he tries to pick up the pieces, he discovers that he, too, can see ghosts. One in particular - the ghost of Celia Morton, the woman accused of murdering Charlotte. Celia was confined in a mental institution for the crime and hanged herself in a closet. Now, her spirit is back in Cape Alden and her persistent appearances are getting on Phil's nerves.
When Phil and Mari are brought together by their mutual "gifts," they decide to join forces to investigate Charlotte's murder. Mari's exuberance intimidates Phil, but he goes along hoping to put Celia Morton's visitations to rest. As things unfold, both Mari and Phil wonder if Celia had been targeted by her husband and the local cops because her depressive mental illness. Celia was the perfect scapegoat, and there were no records of a trial.
With Celia's guilt in doubt, Mari wants to help to clear her name and looks into Charlotte's past. There were few people left who remembered what happened to the sad, pregnant girl who lived alone near the beach. The town shunned had her and her only friend was a man named Jack, a kindhearted wanderer who visited Cape Alden from time to time. Was Jack the father of Charlotte's baby? Did he kill Charlotte?
As Mari looks for answers by following the spirits, Phil follows Mari on a path that leads them to the old house near the lighthouse where Charlotte Johnson was brutally murdered. With nothing but a belief in Celia's innocence, Mari must depend on her newfound gifts to give her the answers she seeks.
Whispers in the Dark was previously published as What She Deserved.
