First published 2011
Sheriff Hackberry Holland guards a small Southwest Texas border town, still grieving his wife's death and navigating complicated feelings for his much younger deputy, Pam Tibbs. When alcoholic former boxer Danny Boy Lorca reports witnessing a torture killing in the desert, Holland's investigation draws him to Anton Ling, an enigmatic Chinese woman the locals call La Magdalena. She shelters undocumented immigrants and denies knowing anything about the victim or killers, yet her aristocratic bearing and steel resolve remind Holland of his deceased wife. He returns to question her repeatedly as the case deepens. The stakes explode when Preacher Jack Collins resurfaces. The serial killer was presumed dead but has returned with his signature machine gun and methodical appetite for murder. This time Collins and Sheriff Holland share a common enemy. Holland must confront whether his attraction to the mysterious Anton Ling blinds him to the possibility that she harbors the same darkness as the dangerous men she protects.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Southwest Texas, China
Period: Contemporary
463 pages · Hardcover · Simon & Schuster
Content warnings: murder, violence