Time moves differently in Point Vestal, a sleepy northwestern town, where ghosts from the late 19th century roam the coastal streets as freely as the town's living inhabitants. But underneath the touristy allure of this commingled past and present lies a creeping darkness. August Starling, a decadent (and dead) crime baron, has a plan for Point Vestal--whose magical nature has become a haven for sinners fleeing their crimes. And the only ones who can stop Starling are the town's newest residents: a defrocked Episcopalian priest and a talking cat.

The Off Season is an effusive meditation on the nature of the fantastic, by a writer The Atlanta Constitution calls "a lasting voice in modern American literature."