In Plain Sight

J. W. Keeley is a man with a score to settle. He blames one man for the death of his brother: Joe Pickett. And now J.W. is going to make him suffer.

Spring has finally come to Saddlestring, Wyoming and game warden Joe Pickett is relieved the long, harsh winter is finally over. However, a cloud of trouble threatens to spoil the milder weather—local matriarch and ranch owner Opal Scarlett has vanished under suspicious circumstances. Two of her sons, Hank and Arlen, are battling for control of their mother's multi-million dollar empire and their bitter fight threatens to tear the whole valley apart.

Everyone is so caught up in the brothers' battle that they seem to have forgotten that Opal is missing. Joe is convinced, though, that the local outfitter who was the last to see her alive isn’t responsible for her murder. He begins to believe the reason for Opal’s disappearance is much more twisted and sinister.

Determined to uncover the truth, Joe is attacked and nearly beaten to death by Hank Scarlett's new right-hand man on the ranch—a recently arrived stranger who looks eerily familiar.

When a series of wicked pranks escalate into the most personal kind of violence, Joe starts to doubt what is happening is connected to Opal's disappearance -- but comes instead from the darkest chapters of his own past. And he knows whoever is after him has a vicious debt to collect and wants Joe to pay with his job, his home... his blood.

In Plain Sight could be considered a new genre: Ranch Gothic.

Compelling and suspenseful, In Plain Sight is a crackling novel from one of today's best mystery writers. It will go on sale nationwide May 4, 2006.