When Henry is called back to Kansas to execute the will of the richest man in his small hometown, he discovers that Tyler Crandall left his considerable fortune not to his long-suffering wife, or to his children, but to a derelict madman known as the Birdman. Henry soon finds himself caught up in a web of secrets and lies dating back a quarter of a century, and involving some of the most powerful men in the state of Kansas. In trying to offer