Poisoned Pen Press
November 2014
On Sale: November 4, 2014
400 pages ISBN: 1464203067 EAN: 9781464203060 Hardcover Add to Wish List
When Cherokee burial remains are unearthed on the site expanding a local cemetery, the dual occupations of Barry Clayton, part-time deputy and full-time undertaker, collide. Then, during the interment of the wife of one of Gainesboro, North CarolinaΓ’β¬β’s most prominent citizens, Cherokee activist Jimmy Panther leads a protest. Words and ΓΒ¬ fists fly. When Panther turns up executed on the grave of the deceased woman, Barry is forced to confront her family as the chief suspects. But the case lurches in a new direction with the arrival of Sheriff Tommy Lee WadkinΓ’β¬β’s Army pal, Boston cop Kevin Malone. HeΓ’β¬β’s on the trail of a Boston hit man who arrived at the Cherokee reservation only days before the murder.
Malone is convinced his quarry is the triggerman. But who paid him? And why? The accelerating investigation draws Barry onto the reservation where PantherΓ’β¬β’s efforts to preserve Cherokee traditions threatened the development of a new casino, a casino bringing millions of dollars of construction plus huge yearly payouts to every member of the tribe. Leading an unlikely team Γ’β¬βhis childhood nemesis Archie Donovan and his elderly fellow undertaker Uncle WayneΓ’β¬βBarry goes undercover. But the stakes are higher than he realized in this risky undertaking. And the life of a Cherokee boy becomes the wager.
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