The Shadow of the Firefly

Ten year old Maggie Schoop loves to play baseball. As the only girl in a neighborhood of boys, she plays on a field in sight of the recently closed Sycamore Valley Asylum. One August night she sees a light on and a person in the window of an empty building. Soon forgetting about it, Maggie has no idea she is being obsessively watched and followed by the person in the window. Maggie's world in 1967 is a stable life and home growing up in the fictional neighborhood of Sycamore Valley. However, the shadowy person circles the edge of her life, moving ever closer until the day when darkness overwhelms her.

Jeff Shannon has lived in Mississippi for many years, but grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the 1960's. His memories of neighborhood baseball games, a nearby asylum, and rumors of kidnappers all contribute to the telling of this story.