March 29, 1975. Katherine and Sheila Lyons, age 10 and 12, vanished from a shopping mall in suburban Washington, D.C. A massive police effort found nothing. In 2013 a cold case squad detective found something he and a generation of detectives had missed. It pointed them toward a man named Lloyd Welch, then serving time for child molestation in Delaware. Bowden had covered the story as a cub reporter. Now he covers the months of intense questioning and extensive investigation of Welch's sprawling Appalachian clan with detectives. How do you get a compulsive liar with every reason in the world to lie to tell the truth? -- adapted from jacket

The first lie -- Finding Lloyd -- In all "honestly" -- The test -- Teddy -- One hundred and one percent the God's honest truth -- The clan -- The duffel bag -- Wanna get high? -- The whole thing from beginning to end -- A trick or the truth? -- My only ace -- The truth is the truth.