The lone lawman in the small Texas town of Branding, widowed single father Sheriff Sam Delaney shoulders a lot until a special someone enters the picture.

A young woman who hopes to give up her bartending job to become a successful writer, Ivy Seidel falls under the spell of Vance Harrow, convicted for a terrible crime, while teaching writing to inmates at a maximum security prison.

"When a prominent University of Wyoming professor goes missing, authorities are stumped. That is, until Joe Pickett makes two surprising discoveries while hunting down a wounded elk on his district as an epic spring storm descends upon him. First, he finds the professor's vehicle parked on a remote mountainside. Then Joe finds the professor's frozen and mutilated body. When he attempts to learn more, his investigation is obstructed by federal agents,...

"From the author of the beloved Ruth Galloway series, a modern gothic mystery for fans of Magpie Murders and The Lake House"--