A suspense-filled western noir thriller set in California's Sierra mountains—for readers of Craig Johnson and C. J. Box.Tommy Smith, former sniper and Army combat veteran, wants nothing more than to be left alone to raise his young family with his deputy-sheriff wife, Sarah, as they run a wilderness outfitting business in the eastern Sierra ranching country where they grew up. A mass breakout at Folsom Prison shatters their mountain idyll and brings back the PTSD that Tommy hoped he'd left on the battlefields of Afghanistan. Although Folsom is a hundred fifty miles west, every new atrocity by the convicted killers places them closer and closer to Tommy and his family. The escape follows by some months the theft of prototype high-end sniper rifles from the nearby Marine base, a theft that the Corps was trying to keep as quiet as possible. Soon, Tommy discovers that the list of escapees includes a name he never wanted to hear again—that of Sarah's...

This tautly written debut thriller was named one of the 10 Best Mysteries of 2013 by the Wall Street Journal.After two tours as a sniper in Iraq, Tommy Smith has returned to his former life as a cowboy and wilderness guide in California's Sierra Nevada, hoping to reclaim the simplicity of his youth and heal the wounds the world can't see. When, high on a mountain pass, he and his partner find the wrecked plane of a billionaire adventurer who disappeared months earlier, a seemingly innocent act triggers a breathtaking cycle of violence that threatens Tommy's world. Soon he is enmeshed in the struggle between the billionaire's trophy wife and wannabe drug lord son and their allies. Every effort to set things right draws him deeper into a bad situation and closer to needing those deadly skills that he had hoped to leave behind forever.With lean, efficient prose and dialogue that crackles with repartee, Bart Paul has written a contemporary thriller of steadily...

A suspense-filled western noir thriller set in California's Sierra mountains—for readers of Craig Johnson and C. J. Box.Tommy Smith, former sniper and Army combat veteran, wants nothing more than to be left alone to raise his young family with his deputy-sheriff wife, Sarah, as they run a wilderness outfitting business in the eastern Sierra ranching country where they grew up. A mass breakout at Folsom Prison shatters their mountain idyll and brings back the PTSD that Tommy hoped he'd left on the battlefields of Afghanistan. Although Folsom is a hundred fifty miles west, every new atrocity by the convicted killers places them closer and closer to Tommy and his family. The escape follows by some months the theft of prototype high-end sniper rifles from the nearby Marine base, a theft that the Corps was trying to keep as quiet as possible. Soon, Tommy discovers that the list of escapees includes a name he never wanted to hear again—that of Sarah's...

For readers of Craig Johnson and C. J. Box, a taut, fast-moving contemporary thriller that builds to an explosive, action-filled conclusion. The third book in the acclaimed western thriller series that debuted with Under Tower Peak—named one of the Ten Best Mysteries of the Year by the Wall Street Journal—See That My Grave Is Kept Clean once again features Iraqi war sniper and Eastern Sierra packer Tommy Smith. Now returned from another tour in Afghanistan, he is rebuilding his life with his new wife, Deputy Sheriff Sarah Cathcart, and their baby daughter, as he opens his own pack outfit in the high country of his youth. When a young girl is reported lost in the canyon above their home, Tommy leads the search, but instead of the missing child, he discovers a corpse that may hold the key to a long-unsolved local bank theft and a fortune in stolen cash. The FBI is called in. Though Tommy tries not to get involved, the promise of...

The follow-up to Under Tower Peak is another taut, fast-moving thriller that builds to an explosive, action-filled conclusion.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...

After two tours as a sniper in Iraq, Tommy Smith has returned to his former life as a cowboy and wilderness guide in California's Sierra Nevada, hoping to reclaim the simplicity of his youth and heal the wounds the world can't see. Wh