Which eccentric cowboy in Stockton County branded Evan Sting on Shotner Hill, murdering the young man? This is what private eye Joe Boxford asks himself when he's hired by Evan's father Benny to find the murderer. Joe needs some help, and enlists the services of Tal Linear, owner of The Linear Bar. But sparks begin to fly between the two. As romance heats up between them, they attempt to solve the branding crime. As the suspects start to pile up and weird relationships unfold in West Stockton, Joe and Tal begin to unravel a heinous crime. That is, until Tal vanishes and Joe thinks his sleuth buddy is going to be the killer's next victim. Does Joe have the skills needed to be a hero and save Tal from the killer's secret agenda and solve the crime? Or will Joe fall flat on his face and lose his reputation as a private investigator as well as his new lover, Tal Linear?

Stockton County Cowboys Book

I wanted to visit Blue Ranch again and decided to charm the untamable and shrew-like Isabel, Dash’s assistant, believing that she may have had some hard evidence for me that pertained to Evan Sting’s murder. What brought such an assumption to head was simple: Dash Shore used branding irons in his sunset sculptures. I wanted to learn where the irons were purchased or if he designed them himself. I also wanted to take a gander around Blue Ranch for any available clues that could help me peg Dash as one of the lead suspects in the case. Who’s to say that a branding iron sculptor couldn’t murder one of his interns? Anyone could be a suspect in the game of killing? And I believed Dash wasn’t above such a position, seeming to have disliked Evan.


Isabel was just as bitchy and unhelpful as my prior visit ten days before, on August 18. She opened the studio’s front door, studied my frame, rolled her black eyes, and said, “You again.”


Chapter 26