Sheriff Milt Kingston has worked oil deaths before. Men slip, harnesses fail, and the company safety man writes it up neat. But when roughneck Jared Pike turns up impaled on a derrick beam under a clear winter sky, the scene won't lie the way the paperwork wants it to. The latch is wrong. The weld is fresh. And Jared was the careful one.

In a Basin where the Church, the rigs, and the courthouse all share the same potluck tables, calling a death "suspicious" sends ripples. Company supervisors push for an accident ruling. Ward leaders talk about keeping the peace. Milt's own family feels the strain as neighbors pull back and a fast, generous settlement tempts Jared's widow into silence.

Milt and his deputy, Clara Ray, follow what they can touch and prove: tool marks on steel, grease on a rail, a backdated weld receipt, phantom "safety bonuses" in a payroll ledger, and a camera that just happens to go dark. Every clue points higher than a roughneck with a temper. To solve Jared's murder, Milt will have to walk a tight line between the law he swore to uphold and the community that raised him -- and confront a safety manager who treats one "bad fall" as the cost of doing business.

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• Mystery, Thriller & SuspenseMysteryPolice Procedurals
• Mystery, Thriller & SuspenseMysterySeries

• Publication Date: February 15, 2026
• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 330 Pages
• File Size: 18 KB