A Matt Davis Mystery

Someone is killing women in the Chelsea district of Manhattan - but, who? The only clues: a signature heart carved into each victim's breast (inside, the initials "J.C." and those of the deceased); copies of the New Testament (with underlined passages referring to infidelity); and fingerprints of a juvenile arrested in the 1960s. On the case is Matt Davis, a plodding but effective NYPD homicide detective who is addicted to fly fishing - and chocolate.

Young girls are coming through a pastoral upstate New York fishing village - but, they aren't all coming out alive! Following a close brush with death as an NYPD homicide detective, Matt Davis has taken early retirement, and accepted a position as Chief of Police in a small, rural upstate New York village. While out fishing on his favorite stream, he stumbles across the remains of a body, barely recognizable as human, killed approximately six months earlier.

While in prison, Ron Trentweiler, a petty thief, is befriended by an itinerant preacher and gets "religion." Upon his release, he founds a small, storefront Pentecostal-style church in his native, rural Alabama. Enter Winona Stepp, a visitor at one of his services who seems to know all about "Brother Ron," as he has taken to calling himself, yet insists upon keeping her own past to herself. Things go smoothly for the pair, that is until Winona suggests using venomous snakes in their "act" and all hell breaks loose.

When the body of Maggie McFarland, an 86-year old widow, is found among the rubble of the once-famous landmark Artemis Hotel, leveled by fire nearly 70 years ago, residents of Roscoe are shocked. However, it is not the location where Maggie is found but rather the manner of her demise that has everyone puzzled. For it isn't a heart attack that has felled her; nor has she suffered a stroke or taken a fatal fall from a porch. Her life has not ended so uneventfully.

Ralph Gilly, the owner of a fishing resort in Montana where Chris and Matt vacationed together years ago, has a neighbor in trouble, and he's reached out to Matt and Chris for help. Clint Davidson's prize bull has been slaughtered and his foreman, Shorty McMann, has been kidnapped and is being held for ransom. The cattleman has been warned that any involvement by the FBI or other law enforcement agencies will result in the death of his ranch hand.