When a fire in an abandoned fruit stand in rural Lincoln County reveals the murdered body of a woman gone missing from Santa Fe years ago, Police Chief Kevin Kerney finds himself cooperating with his estranged son, a man he hardly knows, Deputy Sheriff Clayton Istee. While Kerney digs into the woman's past, hoping to find clues that will lead to a credible suspect, Clayton must unravel two more homicides that seem on the surface totally unrelated. As Kerney chases down clues that raise questions about the legitimacy of a highly regarded modeling and talent agency, Clayton works to discover the identity of a murder suspect alleged to have ties to prostitution and illegal gambling. Set against the backdrop of the high mountains of southern New Mexico, where gambling is big business and private sexual encounters for VIPs can discreetly be arranged, Kerney and Clayton must go up against rich and politically powerful opponents who are willing to protect their reputations at all costs. The Big Gamble is a multilayered, adrenaline-pumped novel of crime and punishment set against the beauty and pristine majesty of one of our country's most magnificent landscapes-and a solid addition to a series that continues to gain legions of devoted readers.