PLAYING CATCH-UP

A ruthless killer preys on the young women of Montana in this tale of suspense from a pioneer of Western fiction Madame Simone runs a brothel on the outskirts of Overthrust, Montana, an oil town just down the road from the ranching community of Midbury. Her business is serene, discreet, and profitable?until one of her girls is murdered.   When his other deputies fail to turn up any leads, Sheriff Chick Charleston asks his college-educated colleague Jason Beard to look into the case. Jase immediately uncovers two vital clues: a mysterious stranger who publicly threatened Laura Jane on the night she was killed and a beloved piece of jewelry missing from her personal effects. Just when Charleston and Jase begin to think they are making progress, however, a teenage girl dies under frighteningly similar circumstances.   To find the culprit, the sheriff and his deputy must be patient, cunning, and resourceful. Set against the backdrop of a land whose rugged beauty and vast open spaces attract dreamers and criminals alike, Playing Catch-Up is an engrossing detective story and a tribute to the unique adventure of small-town life in the West.