Cheatgrass

Under Tower Peak was acclaimed by the Wall Street Journal as one of the Ten Best Mysteries of 2013. In this sequel, Tommy Smith, the Iraq War vet and former Eastern Sierra packer, is home from war after re-upping for a tour in Afghanistan. When his old friend Dave Cathcart disappears from his ranch, Tommy answers the call to help find him. What he learns is that his love for Dave's daughter, his old flame Sarah Cathcart, has never died, but the country where he grew up is undergoing change. Stockmen are selling off water rights to the highest bidder, rendering ranches barren and the community bitter, as drugs and a dangerous new element have moved in.

When Sarah confides that her husband, a smooth-talking entrepreneur, has lost her trust and may not be all he seems, Tommy begins to investigate. Soon another disappearance leads to a gruesome discovery, and a brutal sequence of events takes Sarah and Tommy to old haunts in the high country, where once again he will need to call on his sniper's skills to save them both and to rescue her missing father.

Bart Paul is the author of TV documentaries, short stories, the biographyDouble-Edged Sword: The Many Lives of Hemingway’s Friend, the American Matador Sidney Franklin, andUnder Tower Peak, his acclaimed debut thriller featuring Tommy Smith. Throughout his school years he spent summers working on cattle ranches and pack outfits in California’s Eastern Sierra. After years in Southern California, he now lives in the ranching country of his novels.