ANNE SLOAN is an independent historian and historical novelist, whose special interest is women's history. An English and history graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and University of Houston, she is the author of several novels and non-fiction books and articles about Houston and Houston Heights where she resides and continues her research, lecturing, and writing.

June 1928. Houston, Texas is poised to host the National Democratic Convention when a lynching occurs six days prior to the political conclave's opening. Fort Worth Star Telegram reporter Phillis Flanagan is on the scene and witnesses Houston's attempts to rid itself of the shame as 25,000 visitors arrive for their four-day visit. Will Rogers, H. L. Mencken, Damon Runyan, Louella Parsons, and Will Durant are among the 500 journalists who have plenty to say about national politics and Houston residents, as well as the city's intolerable weather. During the Convention, Phillis gets an inside look at women's struggle to enter politics and Houston's cover up of the shameful crime, as she painfully learns that some news stories can never be written.