Joanne Kemp sits by her husband's side as he lies in his hospital bed, dying. During his lifetime Larry, a jazz saxophonist, has been revered by fellow musicians and admired the world over for his outstanding talent. Close friends and family, however, know him to be an irresponsible father, an absentee husband, a supreme practical joker and a liar. Because of her religious convictions, her devotion to their two children, and her work running her own business, Joanne has been a loyal and faithful wife. Throughout the last two decades Larry has returned home only when he is desperate for Joanne to help him survive yet another painful withdrawal from drugs and alcohol. But now both know Larry's time is fast disappearing. Surfacing to consciousness, he turns to Joanne and confesses that an innocent man is in jail in South Carolina for a murder he himself committed. He begs her to do something to free the man. Joanne is shocked. Surely this confession can not be another of Larry's impossible practical jokes. Not when he is dying Or could it be that for once he is telling her the truth? She begins to question him when they are interrupted by nurses needing to administer his daily sponge bath. Joanne is asked to leave, and reluctantly she agrees. When she returns a short time later she finds her husband surrounded by doctors attempting, frantically, to save his life. He has suffered a massive heart attack. To her horror, he dies before Joanne has a chance to establish whether what he has told her was simply his final practical joke, or the truth. As He Lay...Dying transports the reader to Charleston, South Caroline, to murder and mystery that grows ever more complex. The surprise ending is one the reader will never forget.