It was pure luck that police chief Josie Gray spotted the car, abandoned out in the desert off Scratchgravel Road. If she hadn't stopped to investigate, then she'd never have found the young woman, lying nearly dead of heatstroke on the sand - and the corpse of an older, Mexican man beside her. Cassidy Harper may be grateful to Josie for saving her life, but she still can't explain why she was out for a walk in the midday desert heat, let alone how she happened upon the body. And once Josie sees the ominous wounds on the man's arms, she knows she needs to find the answer fast, because the evidence points to a death that is not only unnatural, but could be the first of many. Set in the unique world of small-town Texas, Scratchgravel Road confirms Tricia Fields's place as a talented new mystery author and chronicler of the Southwest.