Junior Junior Milam is found murdered with barbed wire around his neck and a mysterious unidentified dead Black man at the scene.

The body of the unidentified dead Black man vanishes completely from the morgue without any trace.

Charlene discovers her husband Wheat dead in the bathroom in a scene identical to Junior Junior's murder.

Black MBI detectives Ed Morgan and Jim Davis arrive in Money to assist with the murder investigation.

Ed and Jim see a CNN report at a local diner about a similarly murdered man in Chicago.

At a juke joint, Ed and Jim learn that Wheat's and Junior Junior's fathers murdered Emmett Till.

Ed and Jim compare photographs of the mysterious dead Black man to photographs of Emmett Till and are startled by the similarities.

Granny C sees a figure she believes to be Emmett Till in her bedroom and dies of shock.

FBI agent Herberta Hind is dispatched to Money to assist with the escalating murder investigation.

Reverend Fondle is strangled with barbed wire in his home, and an unknown dead Black man is found at the scene.

Jim visits the Acme Cadaver Company and learns a truck carrying 21 cadavers disappeared near Mississippi with driver Chester Hobsinger.

Herbie, Ed, and Jim locate and arrest Chester Hobsinger inside the Bluegum restaurant.

Gertrude confesses to Jim that her organization killed Junior Junior, Wheat, and Lester Milan to avenge Emmett Till.

Officers Brady and Digby are found hanging from a tree with their scrotums removed, killed by a mob.

Herbie, Ed, and Jim confront Mama Z as Damon types names from her records, and Mama Z asks if Damon should stop.

The novel begins in Money, Mississippi, when Junior Junior Milam is found murdered in a scene replicating the lynching of Emmett Till, alongside an unidentified dead Black man whose body keeps vanishing. Black MBI detectives Ed Morgan and Jim Davis are sent to investigate and soon discover that the murdered men are direct descendants of Emmett Till's killers, with Granny C revealed as Carolyn Bryant herself. The mystery deepens when Granny C dies of shock and FBI agent Herbie Hind joins the investigation as similar murders spread to Chicago and beyond. Jim traces the mysterious cadavers to the Acme Cadaver Company and a missing truck driver named Chester Hobsinger, leading the detectives to arrest Chester at the Bluegum restaurant. Gertrude confesses that her small organization orchestrated the initial killings as revenge for Emmett Till's murder, though she cannot account for the nationwide wave of violence. The novel ends without resolution as the detectives confront Mama Z while Damon types names from her archive and mobs chant outside.

The core murder mystery from Money to national uprising.

Granny C reflects aloud at a family gathering about a young Black boy she lied about years ago.

Sheriff Jetty and Reverend Fondle discuss Junior Junior's murder and casually dismiss the identity of the dead Black man.

Sheriff Jetty secretly instructs Deputy Digby to follow Ed and Jim throughout their investigation in Money.

Ed and Jim visit Daisy Milam's house and find nothing out of the ordinary at the crime scene.

Ed and Jim ask Gertrude at the diner for someone who knows the deep history and gossip of Money.

Reverend Fondle leads a Ku Klux Klan meeting in Money, warning of a Black uprising and organizing a cross burning.

Gertrude takes Ed and Jim to meet Mama Z, who reveals her extensive archive of American lynching records.

Academic Damon Thruff arrives in Mississippi after Gertrude calls him to chronicle the strange events unfolding in Money.

Medical examiner Helvetica reports the first mysterious dead Black man was an embalmed donated cadaver, not Emmett Till.

Ed visits Reverend Fondle's widow Fancel and learns that Fondle was a KKK member who covered up racist crimes.

Ed visits morgue assistant Dill and learns that Fondle falsified the cause of death of a murdered Black man as suicide.

Six white men are found murdered at the Hernando Masonic Hall alongside a single dead Black man.

Gertrude confesses to Damon that she has been involved in the Money murders, calling her actions a soldier's duty.

A fictionalized President holds a press conference using a racial slur and calls on supporters to arm themselves against Black people.

Ed and Herbie rescue Jim and Gertrude after breaking open the locked freezer door at the organization's safehouse.

From the opening gathering where Granny C recalls her lie about a young Black boy, Money's endemic racism shapes every aspect of the investigation. Sheriff Jetty and Reverend Fondle's dismissal of the dead Black man's identity, and Jetty's order to surveil Ed and Jim, reveal how deeply institutionalized racism permeates the town's law enforcement. Gertrude connects the detectives to Mama Z, whose vast lynching archive illuminates the history behind the murders, while scholar Damon Thruff arrives to chronicle what is unfolding. The investigation deepens as Ed uncovers Reverend Fondle's KKK membership and his history of falsifying death records, exposing a long pattern of covering up racist violence. The killings escalate dramatically with a mass murder at the Hernando Masonic Hall, and Gertrude admits her role to Damon while a fictionalized President inflames national tensions with a racist press conference. The pool concludes with Ed and Herbie rescuing Jim and Gertrude from a locked freezer.

The town's hidden racism and the unraveling of a conspiracy.

Mayor Bass scolds Sheriff Jetty about the missing body and the MBI decides to send investigators to Money.

Ed and Jim visit Charlene's house and Granny C convulses while repeatedly trying to apologize to them.

Ed and Jim leave a note on Deputy Digby's car after discovering he fell asleep while surveilling them.

Mama Z's records reveal that her father Julius was lynched but police falsified his death as a suicide.

Helvetica identifies the dead Black man found at Reverend Fondle's murder as Gerald Mister, another donated cadaver from Acme.

Gertrude brings Herbie to meet Mama Z, who immediately rejects Herbie for being a Black woman working for the FBI.

Damon handwrites the names of lynching victims from Mama Z's archive in order to restore their humanity.

Jim and Detective Moon discover Chester Hobsinger's apartment containing martial arts books and a Mississippi map with Money circled.

Gertrude is seen entering the back of Bluegum while lying to Jim that she is at Mama Z's house.

Sheriff Jetty reveals to his wife that his father was Black and was lynched by his own grandfather.

An extremely racist FBI agent dies of a stroke mid-rant after describing a lynching he once personally participated in.

The Secretary of the Treasury is found murdered in the White House and the President is discovered hiding under his desk.

Chester corrects a deliberately false detail during interrogation, revealing his deeper knowledge of the crime scenes.

Jim and Gertrude are locked inside a freezer at the organization's safehouse by an unknown person.

A mob of around 500 people descends on Money chanting the word 'Rise' and kills selected white residents.

Pool 3 traces the novel's pivotal discoveries and decisions, beginning with the mayor's outrage that forces the MBI to dispatch investigators to Money. Ed and Jim's work yields crucial revelations: Granny C's desperate attempts to apologize, Mama Z's personal connection to lynching through her father's falsified death record, and the identification of the cadavers as donated bodies tied to the Acme company. Herbie's rejection by Mama Z captures the novel's core tension between reformist and revolutionary approaches to racial justice, while Damon's handwriting of lynching victims' names quietly sets the supernatural resurrections in motion. As the investigation closes in, Gertrude is caught lying about her whereabouts, Sheriff Jetty discovers his own Black ancestry, and a racist FBI agent dies mid-rant after confessing to a lynching, exposing deep contradictions within white American identity. The pool culminates in Chester's unmasking under interrogation, Jim and Gertrude's entrapment in a freezer, and a mob of five hundred descending on Money chanting the word that signals the uprising has fully begun.