One of the oldest trees on the Outer Banks is an ancient live oak known as the Cora Tree. According to legend, in the early 1700s the townspeople of Frisco, North Carolina accused a strange woman of witchcraft, tied her to the tree and attempted to burn her. Before they could light the match, lightning struck the tree, leaving a heart-shaped hole and the name CORA burned into the bark.

On a training run, Detective Angie Stallone sees a strange woman leaning on the Cora Tree and staring into the heart-shaped hole. Angie learns that the woman calls herself Cora and lives in a old cabin in the Buxton Woods. When a young girl's body is discovered near Cora's cabin, the townspeople and authorities conclude that Cora is the prime suspect. Angie and local bookstore owner, Mee Mee Roberts, team up to prove Cora's innocence. During their investigation they uncover a more diabolical conglomerate responsible for casting the shadow of terror and death on the shores of the Outer Banks.

The Cora Tree Murder is one of ten Outer Banks mystery novels that Joe C. Ellis has written over the last twenty years. The novels have become bestsellers in the bookstores on the Outer Banks.