To the Bones began when I made the comment that, back when I lived in West Virginia, if I was going to kill someone, then I'd toss him down a mine crack. My friend challenged me to do just that—so Darrick MacBrehon, a government auditor, wakes up in a pit full of human bones after getting off the highway at Redbird, WV. He finds his way to a sweepstakes parlor operated by Lourana Taylor, a grieving mother who's been searching for her missing daughter. With a snowstorm bearing down on a Thanksgiving weekend, the pair find themselves making common cause against the local coal barons, the Kavanaghs, whom Lourana believes are behind pretty much everything that goes wrong there. Darrick has also developed a lethal defense mechanism, its source unknown. They gain and lose allies, make discoveries, and confront the Kavanaghs. There's a zombie panic, a New York psychic, and a terrible human tragedy before the final showdown.