The twisty follow-up to the Hillerman Prize–winning The Territory, featuring tough smalltown Texas police chief Josie Gray It was pure luck that Josie Gray spotted Cassidy Harper's car, abandoned on the side of the road. If she hadn't, then she'd never have found Cassidy, lying nearly dead of heatstroke on the desert sand beside the body of a Mexican immigrant. But Cassidy can't explain why she was out for a walk in the midday desert heat, let alone how she happened upon the corpse. And once Josie sees the ominous wounds on the man's body, she knows she needs to find the answer fast, before her own life is in danger. Tricia Fields's The Territory marked her as talented new author of Southwestern crime, and Scratchgravel Road marks an inventive new mystery set in the unique world of smalltown Texas.

“A gritty contemporary crime novel that’s lifted above the pack by the intense humanity of its female protagonist. Don’t miss it.” —Milton T. Burton, author of Nights of the Red Moon At the end of State Road 170 and just past a ghost town lies Artemis, population 2,500. The townspeople had sought out this remote corner of Western Texas in hopes of living lives of solitude and independence. None of them realized that their small town would become a hot spot for Mexican drug runners, whose turf battles have turned both sides of the Rio Grande into a war zone. Still, many of the locals would rather take the law into their own hands than get help from police chief Josie Gray, even when they’re up against a cartel’s private army. After arresting one of the cartel’s hit men and killing another, Josie finds her life at risk for doing a job that many people would rather see her quit. And when the town’s self-appointed protector of the Second Amendment is murdered and his cache of weapons disappears, it’s clear that she doesn’t have to pick sides in this war. She’s battling them both. “Fields’s rich plotting, nonstop action, and deft characterizations show the personal side of the larger issue of drug cartels on both sides of the border.” —Publishers Weekly “Tricia Fields is the real deal.” —Craig Johnson, New York Times–bestselling author of The Cold Dish and Hell is Empty “[For] crime fiction readers who yearn for wide open spaces, characters with real heartbeats, and stories that ring true.” —M.J. Rose, author of New York Times–bestselling author of The Reincarnationist

"Texas is experiencing its worst season of wildfires in a decade, forcing police chief Josie Gray to evacuate the citizens of Artemis. Not everyone makes it out alive, however. In the fire's wake, she discovers the body of someone who never left town, lying dead in the house of a local country music singer. Beside the body lies a syringe carrying traces of heroin. It seems as if the deceased nodded off and then missed the evacuation. But as Josie learns more about the unfortunate victim, she begins to wonder if something more sinister took place"--

Police Chief Josie Gray is living every cop's worst nightmare: a murder suspect who she knows personally. Even worse, it's her longtime boyfriend, Dillon Reese. Dillon's secretary has been murdered, and now Dillon's disappeared. Josie has no choice but to relinquish the investigation to a fellow officer, giving up control of a case that matters more than any other. As suspicions split the department, Josie struggles with her choices on the night she last saw Dillon. If she had acted on her instincts, would the innocent woman still be alive? Unable to stay on the sidelines, Josie investigates on her own terms--and uncovers a plot that could bring the killer millions. Now she must make a choice between her oath as an officer and her personal desire to get revenge. Tricia Fields's Wrecked continues the Hillerman Prize-winning mystery series that captures the unique landscape and characters who populate the small towns of West Texas.

"Police Chief Josie Gray wakes in the middle of the night, sure that she's heard a car slowly passing by her remote homestead. When she goes outside to check, she discovers a woman, mute with shock and terror, hiding on her porch. And when she explores the field nearby, she comes across the body of another young woman, shot and killed. Located on the border of Texas and Mexico, the small town of Artemis has become a way station for the coyotes who ferry immigrants across the Rio Grande. But they usually keep moving north, to cities where they will pass by unnoticed. As Josie investigates the murder and tries to learn the identity of her uninvited houseguest, she discovers that not everyone in Artemis has stayed out of the trafficking business, and someone may play a bigger role than she ever expected. This fifth book in Tricia Fields' Hillerman prize-winning series captures the raw natural beauty of West Texas and the tough, independent people who choose to live at the very edge of the country"--

Police Chief Josie Gray's life is complicated when sparks and bullets begin to fly after her small town in Texas is overrun by a community wishing to live "off grid." The residents of the small town of Artemis are suspicious when a community called The Drummers moves into a local abandoned church. Their leader, Gideon, claims their aim is simple: to live peacefully off the grid without government interference. But when local power substations are sabotaged and the whole of West Texas loses electricity, all fingers point to them. Forced to intervene, Police Chief Josie Gray and her team try to enter the church only for gunshots to be exchanged. Inside the church one young girl is killed, with Gideon claiming Josie's stray bullet hit her. Was Josie responsible? Did one of The Drummers murder the girl and use Josie as a patsy? Were The Drummers responsible for the power outage? As Josie identifies an ever-widening pool of suspects, she learns of a shocking connection reaching far beyond West Texas.