Cold Black Earth

When Rachel Lindstrom fled from her rural hometown in western Illinois to join the State Department and see the world, she never expected to return with her life in tatters. But after the horrors of war and a painful divorce, the only place where she can rebuild is the town she once escaped. At home, however, there is little comfort. Her brother, still reeling from his wifes suicide, struggles to run the family farm and handle a hell-raising son. Rachels arrival also draws a pair of rival suitors: her brothers handsome friend and a rough-hewn sheriffs deputy who pined for her in high school. Romance is the last thing on Rachels mind, but a little comfort would be niceexcept for the complications. When a deranged killer escapes from a local prison, the far-flung farmsteads go on high alertespecially when the bodies start turning up. And in a county where the miles outnumber the people, it soon becomes clear that the madman is close behind Rachel. See more