"Who killed Captain Littleton Condiff? The wife who slept by his side? A robber seeking the small fortune under his mattress? A son desperate to escape the drudgery of his father's life as an oysterman? His apparently harmless mother-in-law? Perhaps a conspiracy of his wife, her mother, their son? Into this tale of murder at the turn of the 20th century is woven the tale of the imprisonment and trial of Littleton's wife, Bessie; the history of his...

Southern Maryland is made up of a collection of peninsulas covered in low rolling hills, fields, forests, swamps, and waterways leading to the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay. As such, this area enjoyed relative isolation and small population for over three centuries despite its proximity to cities such as Alexandria, Annapolis, Baltimore, and Washington. Those who did settle here developed a close connection to its farms, waterways, and natural...