Shattered Dreams
Publish Date: 3/22/19
A Sheriff Virgil Dalton Mystery
When he’s called to the scene of a burnt-out trailer in a remote corner of the southwest, Sheriff Virgil Dalton finds a body charred beyond recognition and the telltale signs of a meth lab gone wrong. But he also sees enough evidence to convince him there was foul play, and before long he and his deputies are searching the vast desert landscape to discover who was behind it.
When word of another fatality reaches Virgil, he learns of a supposedly accidental death that seems like anything but, and the pattern emerging tells Virgil he’s dealing with a killer who will go to great lengths to cover his tracks. With signs pointing to the possible involvement of a local company that is growing by leaps and bounds and changing his beloved landscape faster than he can keep track of, Virgil knows he’s headed for a high-stakes confrontation that will force him to put himself and everything he holds dear at risk . . .
Chapter 1
The early morning sun was just high enough to make him squint. A light wind caused him to shiver. Despite the chill of the mid December day, a bead of sweat was evident above his upper lip. He could see the silhouette of the figure clearly, even though it was forty yards away. He had hit much tougher targets in Afghanistan and Iraq easily. But this was different. As he found the trigger he drew in a deep breath. It was all wrong…
Death on the High Lonesome
Publish Date: 10/06/2015
The author of Death at Th
e Black Bull returns to the Southwestern town of Haywood where the onset of winter ushers in a new mystery for Sheriff Virgil Dalton…
Virgil knows that his sleepy hometown is starting to reflect the times, in good ways and bad. It still comes as a shock when his deputy is almost killed by the body of a woman falling from the highway overpass onto his car. A woman who had been fleeing for her life…
Then longtime resident Velma Thompson is found dead on her porch—her husband missing. To search for the man, Virgil saddles up and heads to the High Lonesome, the rugged mountains above their ranch. And on a wind-swept mesa, he’ll find the first clues that point to a killer whose body count has only just begun…
Death at the Black Bull
Publish Date: 10/07/2014
Sheriff Virgil Dalton’s Debut
Hayward is a sleepy Southwestern town full of cattle, trucks, and tumbleweeds. Virgil Dalton’s been the sheriff for over a dozen years and has lived there all his life. It’s a place where everybody pretty much knows everybody—but they don’t know each other’s secrets…
Buddy Hinton is just a good ole boy. So when he disappears after a night drinking at the Black Bull, his friends just figure he went down to Mexico to find himself a girlfriend and eventually will come back. But this case quickly becomes a homicide after the sheriff discovers the missing man floating in one of his stock tanks.
For a man who wasn’t known to have enemies, Buddy clearly upset someone. Figuring out who that was will require Virgil and his deputy, Jimmy, to retrace Buddy’s last steps—and to remain a step ahead of a murderer who may have no qualms about killing again …