Cooper Brant is the architect who designed the new Emery Energy headquarters, a job he got primarily because he is married to the daughter of Bix Emery, the patriarch who controls the company (and his family, all of whom work for it) in its new direction, from being oil-centric to becoming more involved in alternative energy research and development. Bix and his deceased wife's spoiled canine, Pyrite, seem to be everywhere, and built homes for each family member in a secured country club development.
"Coop's" father was a well-known TV cowboy, who also dabbled in alternative energy research, before his unsolved murder fifteen years earlier. That crime was never solved, but, since Coop was the one who discovered the body, the original police detective still pursued the "cold" case, and hoped to get Coop's cooperation. Both Coop and the detective are shocked by another violent death in the family (Coop's never-do-well stepson), and everyone has theories of who could have killed him in order to advance their standing in the family business. The key to the murder may be in a box that Coop is given by a friend he hasn't seen in more than a decade.
Michael Craft - known best for his "Mark Manning" and "Claire Gray" mystery series - is a masterful mystery writer, and this is his first novel in six long years. It's well worth waiting for, and is an exciting page-turner that any mystery buff will consume like a hearty steak dinner . . . after being hungry for six years! Outstanding, five stars out of five.
- Bob Lind, Echo Magazine
