Innocence, Chopin and secrets. A piano recital begins the story. So many secret lives in the Hightower family, lives that begin on that terrible night in Alton when the brothers, Brandon and James see a man murdered. Secrets that continue when Catherine, their childhood playmate, grows up to be an outspoken antagonist against slavery. Now she and Brandon are on opposing sides, or so Catherine thinks. She believes him to be a conservative lawyer who lounges in his father's office and spends most of his time upholding the law of the land that she hates so passionately. How he grew up to be the kind of man she particularly dislikes is beyond her comprehension. Brandon works carefully to keep his façade in place. He must protect his secret identity at all costs. He needs to appear to be exactly the unfeeling person Catherine thinks he is, a bored, spoiled man who works to uphold the law she despises. His life depends on keeping his secret safe from her. He enjoys hiding his real self behind his face of deception, knowing he is doing the right thing...until fate intercedes and binds Catherine to him in chains it is difficult to break. Brandon isn't the only one who has a secret. His brother James also carries out a deception that almost costs him his marriage to the love of his life. Deception At Midnight is full of intrigue, mystery and romance. It is the story of life lived in the mid-nineteenth century by a family of people doing their best to do the right thing in difficult times.