The story begins when Laurel sees a ghost in her bedroom. But it isn't a ghost, as she soon discovers when she investigates the backyard to find a dead girl floating in her pool. It appears to be Molly, her daughter's best friend. This leads to questions about her daughter, Shelby's, involvement and new unanswered questions about the real reason Molly was found in their pool. Police investigators and neighbors write it off as a suicide but Laurel's ghostly experience tells her there is something more to the story. The evidence leads her to her own hometown, Dulop, and reconciliation with her ne'er-do-well sister Thalia. Soon she is discovering many truths in her own past and her daughter's that lead her to family skeletons and to the dead girl's secret.

The story is intriguing and the search and find is like meandering down a long, winding, dusty road. In the end truths are revealed in their seemingly mundane lives that shake the south a bit. The Girl Who Stopped Swimming was a light mystery with charm. In this day of intense drama and hard core crime, this was actually a warm breeze.