The Masked Man and the Orphan Girl is a suspenseful murder story set in a small Mississippi town in the 1980's. Cranberry Farmer, a teenage girl who has lost her parents, flees from her adopted home. Her ordeal, survival instincts, and new life frame the central perspective of the story. Off-setting her world is the "masked man," who is a killer with a bizarre ritualistic pattern. The reader is kept guessing about who he is, and why he behaves as he does. The county police, particularly the enigmatic sheriff, are thoroughly involved. There are a number of strands, seemingly unrelated, which gradually weave together until a rather surprising ending.