It was pure luck that police chief Josie Gray spotted the car, abandoned out in the desert off Scratchgravel Road. If she hadn’t stopped to investigate, then she’d never have found the young woman, lying nearly dead of heatstroke on the sand – and the corpse of an older, Mexican man beside her. Cassidy Harper may be grateful to Josie for saving her life, but she still can’t explain why she was out for a walk in the midday desert heat, let alone how she happened upon the body. And once Josie sees the ominous wounds on the man’s arms, she knows she needs to find the answer fast, because the evidence points to a death that is not only unnatural, but could be the first of many. Set in the unique world of small-town Texas, Scratchgravel Road confirms Tricia Fields’s place as a talented new mystery author and chronicler of the Southwest.

The residents of the small town of Artemis are suspicious when a community called The Drummers moves into a local abandoned church. Their leader, Gideon, claims their aim is simple: to live peacefully off the grid without government interference. But when local power substations are sabotaged and the whole of West Texas loses electricity, all fingers point to them. Forced to intervene, Police Chief Josie Gray and her team try to enter the church only for gunshots to be exchanged. Inside the church, one young girl is killed, with Gideon claiming Josie’s stray bullet hit her. Was Josie responsible? Did one of The Drummers murder the girl and use Josie as a patsy? Were The Drummers responsible for the power outage? As Josie identifies an ever-widening pool of suspects, she learns of a shocking connection reaching far beyond West Texas.

Police Chief Josie Gray is living every cop’s worst nightmare: a murder suspect who she knows personally. Even worse, it’s her longtime boyfriend, Dillon Reese. Dillon’s secretary has been murdered, and now Dillon’s disappeared. Josie has no choice but to relinquish the investigation, giving up control of a case that matters more than any other. As suspicions split the department, Josie struggles with her choices on the night she last saw Dillon. If she had acted on her instincts, would the innocent woman still be alive? Unable to stay on the sidelines, Josie investigates on her own terms – and uncovers a plot that could bring the killer millions. Now she must make a choice between her oath as an officer and her personal desire to get revenge.

Dr. Oscar LeBlanc is close to a medical breakthrough to cure dementia and other degenerative diseases…but in order to succeed, he needs to illegally obtain plasma from prepubescent children. He believes the ends justify the means, so two young girls are abducted.

The disappearance of the girls causes a lockdown of the area, and when one of the girl’s parents proves uncooperative with the police, former homicide-cop-turned-radio-presenter Maggie Wise offers to help. Maggie quickly forms a connection with the family just as the girls are recovered.

LeBlanc is quickly suspected, but after he is questioned, he’s found dead from an apparent suicide. However, the circumstances are suspicious, and Maggie finds herself conflicted when the families become the prime suspect.