What kind of monster would savagely murder a 71-year-old and leave her battered corpse to rot in the Arizona desert? A crime so patently inhuman, it shocks even those who should be used to death--like Joanna Brady, sheriff of Cochise County. But the slaying of a complex and truly uncommon senior is only one thread in a bloody tapestry--as death follows death in horrific succession, leading one dedicated officer of the law to risk everything as she seeks answers in the lethal shadow of Outlaw Mountain.