Charlie gets her newest case (the seventh in this bestselling mystery series) when an ill-tempered female attorney hires her to find the family's missing patriarch in time for an upcoming family reunion. The elderly man took off two months earlier to do some gold prospecting in the hills of southern New Mexico. Charlie agrees to ask around but privately she thinks the old man probably just left town to avoid his irritating daughter.

However, when she visits the almost-ghost town of White Oaks, Charlie comes upon a body that could be the missing Willie McBride. The mystery deepens and Charlie finds herself and her sleuthing partner, red retriever Rusty, hiking Arizona's Superstition Mountains in search of the truth. What she finds leaves her facing a huge moral dilemma and there is no one to ask for advice.

Praise for Connie Shelton's Charlie Parker mystery series:

"A Charlie Parker mystery is always a good read." Southwest Book Views

"This is a dandy. Don't miss it " -- Book Talk

..".a female sleuth with an original slant to her methods." -Small Press Magazine

"Charlie is a fabulous amateur sleuth." --Midwest Book Review

"A good story and a challenging puzzle." --Robert O. Greer, National Public Radio

"Down to earth and very readable." -Library Journal

"Tension is fast-paced in this involving account." --Midwest Book Review

"Charlie is slick, appealing, and nobody's fool--just what readers want in an amateur sleuth." --Booklist