A decades-old plane crash leads Du Pré to possible murder, and to a landowner with dark secrets Officially, Gabriel Du Pré is the cattle inspector for Toussaint, Montana, responsible for making sure that no one tries to sell cattle branded by another ranch. Unofficially, he is responsible for much more than cows' backsides. The barren country around Toussaint is too vast for the town's small police force, and so, when needed, this hard-nosed hybrid...

When a mysterious cult moves in on the outskirts of Toussaint, it's up to Du Pré to investigate whether the members are merely eccentric-or murderous The Eides have owned cattle in Montana since 1882, but a few days after they pull up stakes and sell their property, their homestead goes up in flames. When Gabriel Du Pré arrives on scene, nothing is left but the ashes. A serene young man appears, insisting that the fires were set purposefully and...

Lieutenant John Patchen has come to Montana to persuade Chappie Plaquemines, his former gunnery sergeant in Iraq and the son of Gabriel Du Pré's girlfriend, to accept the Navy Cross. First, however, Du Pré and Patchen must find the wounded marine, who was last seen drinking heavily in the Toussaint Saloon. They locate him soon enough, disheveled and stinking of stale booze, but a sobering visit to a medicine man's sweat lodge reveals a much greater...