"J.M. Hayes" laconic wit is custom-made for this small-town hullabaloo in the flatlands of Kansas." -Elizabeth Gunn, author of the Jake Hines mysteries "It"s no easy trick to write about America with a clear eye for its faults and with warm humor. Mark Twain managed it, and so does J.?M. Hayes, with admirable wit in the face of horror." -John Orr, San Jose Mercury News As a howling blizzard blows down upon the sparsely-populated Benteen County seat of Buffalo Springs, Kansas, Sheriff English encounters a doll and a dead baby. Their bodies have been switched, but by whom? And why? The elderly coroner disclaims any knowledge, but seems uneasy when a swastika is revealed on the tiny corpse. Meanwhile, the sheriff"s part-Cheyenne half-brother, "Mad Dog" Maddox, has collected a naked body from the Sunshine Towers retirement home and is headed toward a treetop burial when he is diverted by the storm. In a makeshift mound nearby, Mad Dog"s pet wolf-dog hybrid finds a child"s skull,...