And when Julie unwittingly attracts the attention of the killer, she realizes no place is safe…

With the body count rising, the odds are stacked against Julie to discover the truth behind these hidden agendas before the murderer buries it forever. Local ranchers including Julie’s father a Lakota Holy group, and casino owners from nearby! Deadwood are determined to stop the gaming facility from opening. The girl’s father is foreman on the controversial new Indian casino under construction at the base of the sacred Mato Paha, and the girl’s mother is secretly working for a rival casino rumored to have ties to an east coast crime family. Although skeptical about Martinez’ motives in hiring her, and confused by her strange attraction to him, Julie nevertheless sees the opportunity to hone her investigative skills outside her office.īut something about the case doesn’t ring true. Enter dangerous, charismatic entrepreneur Tony Martinez, who convinces Julie to take a case involving a missing Native American girl, the innocent pawn in her parents’ child custody dispute. Grisly murders are rocking the small county of Bear Butte, where Julie Collins has spent the last few months learning the PI biz without the guidance of her best friend and business partner, Kevin Wells. Especially those serious enough to kill for. But the parallels end when Julie realizes some family secrets are best kept buried deep. On the surface the situation is eerily familiar. Julie finds herself drawn into the case against her better judgment, and discovers not only the ugly reality of the young girl s tragic life and brutal death, but ties to her and Kevin s past that she is increasingly reluctant to revisit. Then she learns Kevin has been hired, mysteriously, to find out where the murdered girl spent her last few days.

When the body of a sixteen year old white girl is discovered in nearby Rapid Creek, Julie believes this victim will receive the attention others were denied. The one bright spot in her mundane life is the time she spends working part time as a PI with her childhood friend, Kevin Wells. Lack of public interest in finding his murderer, or the killer of several other transient Native American men, has left Julie with a bone deep cynicism she counters with tequila, cigarettes, and dangerous men. Julie Collins is stuck in a dead end secretarial job with the Bear Butte County Sheriff’s office, and still grieving over the unsolved murder of her Lakota half brother.

Rode Hard, Put Up Wet by Lorelei James