This fifth book in the series thrusts Sage Adair into an unfamiliar landscape and social milieu — a situation that challenges his skills and endangers his life. It's 1903 and a range war is brewing in Central Oregon. An enemy's extortion sends Sage on a wild stagecoach ride into the Crooked River country's deep canyons and parched valleys. There he finds cowboys blazing dead lines across the rangeland that sheepmen and their animals dare not cross. The threat is real. Already two shepherds lay dead in remote mountain meadows and soon, another sheep man dies. This time, the murderer attacks his victim in the heart of Prineville — the area's fastest-growing town. As Sage races to avert the conflict, he discovers these people of the central plateau are embroiled in a crisis not of their own making. And he learns that, unless he and his unlikely allies act quickly, these hardy folk will turn on each other. As the deaths mount, Sage faces a different kind of deadline. If he doesn't uncover the murderer stalking the sheepmen, their restraint will snap — catapulting the entire region into a war where neighbor will slaughter neighbor. This fast-paced, well-researched, and compelling novel lays bare the historical forces that threatened and, ultimately, shaped Central Oregon and its people.
