As geologist Frankie MacFarlane prepares for her doctoral dissertation defense, two members of her committee are brutally attacked, one of them fatally. Meanwhile, the case on the supposedly deceased Geoff Travers is reopened, forcing Frankie to deal with the possibility that her former fiance might still be alive. And, while working on a vertebrate fossil quarry, fellow student Dora Simpson is abducted. For her, time is running out.In the Mojave Desert, amid the arroyos and volcanic mesas of the Cady Mountains, Frankie finds the final pieces to these puzzles and becomes the quarry....

Southeastern Arizona is a tinderbox. Down Under Copper s plans to explore for minerals pit landowners, worried about their water supply and land values, against those hoping to profit from the mining venture. Someone snaps.In the traditional homeland of the Chiricahua Apaches, an environmental lawyer s body lies in the burned wreckage of his trailer. As if in retaliation, a DUC executive is shot. Geologist Frankie MacFarlane, her students, and Joaquin Black, an old friend and local rancher, find the executive s body in a clearing among the volcanic hoodoos of Chiricahua National Monument. And...

Finalist, Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Award, Adult FictionForeWord Book of the Year Award, Honorable MentionAfter the murderous rigors of her Ph.D. field research, Frankie MacFarlane is happy to be settling down in her native Tucson, house-sitting the family home and teaching geology at Foothills Community College. Little does she imagine that a brief fishing trip to Mexico with her brother Jamie and his girlfriend, Carla, could entangle her in a string of murder, mythology, and international intrigue. Nonetheless, Frankie responds in true form. Noticing every nuance of her...

When colleague Dora Simpson asks Frankie MacFarlane to fill in as geology professor on a whitewater trip through the heart of the Grand Canyon, Frankie jumps at the chance. Eight days. Nearly two hundred miles on the river. One mile deep into the earth. What could go wrong?
Everything. Frankie wrenches her knee on the first day. On the second, a solo kayaker forces her to choose between being gutted by a Bowie knife and drowning in the frigid water. Frankie chooses the river.
Who wants Frankie dead? And why? As Frankie searches for answers, she discovers that one of her students is...

When colleague Dora Simpson asks Frankie MacFarlane to fill in as geology professor on a whitewater trip through the heart of the Grand Canyon, Frankie jumps at the chance. Eight days. Nearly two hundred miles on the river. One mile deep into the earth. What could go wrong?
Everything. Frankie wrenches her knee on the first day. On the second, a solo kayaker forces her to choose between being gutted by a Bowie knife and drowning in the frigid water. Frankie chooses the river. Who wants Frankie dead? And why? As Frankie searches for answers, she discovers that one of her students is...