**2023 Chanticleer International Book Awards - 1st place, Best suspense/thriller novel** **2022 NYC Big Book Award: Winner- Best Western Novel; Finalist- Best Mystery Novel** **2022 American Book Fest: Winner- Best New Fiction; Finalist- Best Mystery Novel** **2022 Hollywood Book Festival: Finalist- Best Genre Novel** An unconscious drug mule in the lawless desert. A decaying marriage where love is a phantom limb. The savage murder of a possible witness. Rivalry. Betrayal. It’s a new day along the border, one where the clandestine has moved out of the shadows and asserted itself with muscles that announce to the world: the rules are different now. Amoret, Texas, 1982. Life along the border is harsh, but in a world where cultures work together to carve a living from the desert landscape, Blaine Beckett lives a life of isolation. A transplanted Boston intellectual, for twenty years locals have viewed him as a snob, a misanthrope, an outsider. He seems content to stand apart until one night when he vanishes into thin air amid signs of foul play. Noah Grady, the town doctor, is a charming and popular good ol’ boy. He’s also a keeper of secrets, both the town’s and his own. He watches from afar as the mystery of Blaine’s disappearance unravels and rumors fly. Were the incipient cartels responsible? Was it a local with a grudge? Or did Blaine himself orchestrate his own disappearance? Then the unthinkable happens, and Noah begins to realize he’s considered a suspect. From the Amazon #1 Best Selling author of The Cuts that Cure comes an atmospheric mystery set on the Texas-Mexico border where a small town grapples with its bloody loss of innocence. Paced like a lit fuse, this riveting whodunnit will keep you guessing all the way to its shocking conclusion. "Great action, well-told, and authentic with all the nuances and spirit of small town Texas. Don't miss it." -Lone Star Literary Life Reviews