After two decades protecting innocent victims on the run, and a year
after getting shot on a job that took a dangerous turn for the worse,
Jane McKinnon, née Whitefield, has settled into the quiet life of a
suburban housewife in Amherst, New York--or so she thinks.
One morning as she comes back from a long run, Jane is met by an unusual
sight: all eight clan mothers, the female leaders of the Seneca clans,
parked in her driveway in two black cars. A childhood friend of Jane's
from the reservation, Jimmy, is wanted by the police for the murder of a
local white man. But instead of turning himself in, he's fled, and no
one knows where he is hiding out. At the clan mothers' request, Jane
retraces a walking trip she and Jimmy took together when they were
fourteen in hopes that he has gone the same way again. But it soon
becomes clear that the police aren't the only ones after him. As the
chase intensifies, the number of people caught up in this twisted plot
multiplies, and Jane is the only one who can protect those endangered by
it. A String of Beads is an addictive, fast-paced thriller about how
abandoning the past can sometimes be the hardest thing to do, even when
your life--and the life of those you love--depends on it.