Mellany Barnett

Mystery writer Allen Crane hasn't written a single word in over three years - not since the death of his wife. His publisher suggests a two-week stay in York Beach, Maine. Maybe that's just what Allen needs to snap out of his writer's block and return to the top of the best seller's list. hinking his publisher is probably right, Allen packs up, grabs his dog, Frankie, and heads east. It doesn't take long at all for Allen to discover that the sleepy little town of York Beach might not be so sleepy after all.

In the third entry to the series, Alaska P.I. Cecil Younger is fresh out of rehab, sporting a fresh head wound, with a child custody case from hell, and with the clients to match. Confrontational and obsessed, Priscilla DeAngelo is sure her ex is conspiring with a state senator to wrest her son from her, and thus, hires Cecil Younger to investigate. This is the first time Younger has to deal with lawyers in flashy suits and overused paper shredders. When she storms off to Juneau for a showdown, Younger's custody case swiftly turns into a murder.

Native American psychologist Ben Pecos has returned to the New Mexico pueblo of his birth as an intern with the Indian Health Service. Still struggling with his past, he is plunged into the nightmare rampage of a mysterious illness that is killing the residents of the pueblo, including his own grandmother. One of the victims, the tribal governor, had made powerful enemies, and Ben suspects his murder was premeditated—but that doesn't explain the insidious killer now stalking the innocent. Undaunted, Ben digs deep to root out a killer whose deadly agenda is spiraling out of control.

A skilled hunter is found dead in the first few moments of opening day for deer season. Everyone assumes it was an accident. When Jake learns the victim is his best friend, Ben Wayne, he must push past his crushing grief and process the scene. Two things become horrifyingly clear. Ben was shot through the head with a high-powered rifle. And this was no accident; it was an execution. As the town grieves, Jake discovers there has been a series of similar killings throughout southern Ohio.