Mountain Murder

A ranger murdered in the snow. A trail of drugs and stolen weapons. A manhunt stretching far beyond the Colorado mountains.

Late on a frigid December afternoon, a Colorado Parks ranger is checking snowmobiles for current registration on a remote high-country plateau. Just as he is preparing to call it a day, another group of riders appears. Their machines have no registration stickers, and when the ranger asks for identification, he is shot in the back.

What begins as a county murder investigation quickly grows into something much larger.

C.W. Blakenship of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation joins the hunt as evidence and violence push the case across jurisdictional lines. Soon, multiple county sheriff departments and state and federal law-enforcement agencies are drawn into an increasingly dangerous search for the killers.

As investigators follow the trail, connections emerge to a Texas drug and weapons operation with ties to Mexican cartels. The murder of one ranger has opened the door to a criminal network far more dangerous than anyone initially suspected.

Against a landscape of deep snow, isolated mountain communities, remote cabins, and unforgiving terrain, Blakenship and his allies must identify their elusive adversaries and recover stolen weapons before more blood is spilled.

Mountain Murder: High Country Mayhem, the fifth Western Slope Mystery, is a fast-moving crime thriller combining murder investigation, high-country pursuit, and multi-agency law enforcement against the rugged backdrop of Western Colorado.