This is my first novel by this author but will most likely not be my last. Charlie Parker, a former detective from New York, has gone on a mission to find the man who murdered his wife and daughter. In order to find him he has asked friends in law enforcement to send him information regarding ritualized killings they come across. Some of these lead him to Cargill, Arkansas, where police chief Griffin has a second teenage girl’s murder to solve. Or possibly a third. Parker starts out by angering Griffin who puts him in jail overnight but then realizes he’s made a mistake. Parker leaves town but then decides to return, providing outside eyes for a series of crimes that have been hushed up by the sheriff’s department over the last several years. Enter William Jefferson Clinton, newly elected president of the US, who is pulling all the strings he can to raise up Arkansas out of poverty. The Cade family, one of whom is the deputy sheriff, owns most of the land worth anything, and is looking to profit from new industry all but set to sign on the dotted line. News of young girls, even if African American being murdered will send that industry to Texas just as sure as the world. Parker doubts this killer is the same one he is looking for, but stays anyway. Good thing he does, for a lot of reasons.