Pliny Pennington

The New York Times best-selling author Steve Thayer introduces Deputy P. A. Pennington of the Kickapoo Falls, Wisconsin, Sheriff's Department, in a gripping novel of sex, politics, and betrayal - where the lust for power leads a war-wounded young man through the explosive secrets of a small town in the presidential election year of 1960.

Michael and Maggie Butler are found naked and dead in a Wisconsin wheat field, murdered by two vicious shotgun blasts. But no one gets murdered in Kickapoo Falls, a peaceful, picturesque vacation retreat on the edge of the Wisconsin Dells, home of the politically powerful Kickapoo Gunn Club.

Deputy Pennington is convinced the answer lies back in the wheat field. But the town's ruling elite closes ranks and turns on him as he zeroes in on the truth. What appears to be a husband-wife murder-suicide soon opens doors into a deadly conspiracy set for election night.