In this valley songs live . . . and kill. No one knows where the Tufa came from or how they ended up in the mountains of east Tennessee. When the first Europeans came to the Smoky Mountains, the Tufa were already there. Dark-haired and enigmatic, they live quietly in the hills and valleys of Cloud County, their origins lost to history. But there are clues in their music, hidden in the songs they have passed down for generations. Private Bronwyn Hyatt, a true daughter of the Tufa, has returned from Iraq, wounded in body and spirit, but her troubles are far from over. Cryptic omens warn of impending tragedy, and a restless ''haint'' has followed her home. Worse yet, Bronwyn has lost touch with herself and the music that was once a part of her life. With death stalking her family, will she ever again join in the song of her people and let it lift her onto the night winds?