When the murder of a beloved ranch owner shocks the entire county, Maggie Blackthorne must unmask a killer hiding in plain sight.
Ranch owner Mike Drake is a fixture in Grant County, beloved and respected by friends and neighbors alike. So everyone is shocked when his prize bull is found mutilated on his property near Poison Spring, just outside the village of Kimberly.
Police Sergeant Maggie Blackthorne and her partner Hollis Jones are called out to Poison Spring Ranch to investigate the slaughter—but they discover an even greater crime when they find Mike Drake himself shot to death not far from his bull's carcass.
Residents throughout the county demand answers as Maggie and Hollis get to work on the case, but there are hardly any leads and too many contradictions. Almost everyone around had loved Mike Drake—but he seems to have been killed by a local with a grudge.
Maggie and Hollis must watch their step as they dig up dark secrets about one of the county's most upstanding residents. Particularly when their search takes them into the craggy, luminous fossil beds surrounding Poison Spring Ranch—it's dangerous terrain to wander around in…and the perfect place for a killer to hide.