When a county employee is found shot to death in sun-drenched daylight while sitting in his county road grader, Undersheriff Bill Gastner is faced with puzzling questions. The simplest explanation—that an errant bullet from a careless target shooter’s rifle blew out Larry Zipoli’s brains—is soon discarded as inconsistencies surface. The fatal bullet shows no rifling marks, and investigation shows that the shooter walked directly toward the road grader, in full view of the victim—who did nothing to defend himself.
In addition to the demands of the investigation, Gastner learns that Sheriff Eduardo Salcido has hired a new deputy without discussing the matter with his undersheriff and that the new hire is destined to be the first female road-patrol deputy in the history of Posadas County.
Thus begins Gastner’s relationship with Estelle Reyes, whose shrewd observations shed important light on a crime that reveals all kinds of skeletons lurking in Posadas County closets.
Steven F. Havill is the author of more than twenty novels set in the American West. He taught in secondary schools for twenty-five years and since then earned an associate of applied science degree in gunsmithing. He lives with his wife, Kathleen, in New Mexico.
Ray Porter is an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator and fifteen-year veteran of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He has appeared in numerous films and television shows, including Almost Famous, ER, and Frasier.