Love and Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere

FOR READERS OF IN COLD BLOOD AND MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL

This work of true crime as memoir is as much of an investigation of a shocking murder as it is a portrait of small-town America and the folks that make their homes there—and a deeply moving examination of parenting an autistic child

For well over twenty years, Poe Ballantine traveled America, taking odd jobs, living in small rooms, trying to make a living as a writer. At age 46, he finally settled with his Mexican immigrant wife in Chadron, Nebraska, where they built a family with their son, who was red-flagged as autistic.

But this quiet life is disruptd when one day in 2006, his neighbor, Steven Haataja, a math professor from the local state college, disappears. Ninety-five days later, the professor was found bound to a tree, burned to death in the hills behind the campus where he had taught. No one, law enforcement included, understood the circumstances. Though Ballantine had never contemplated writing mystery or true crime, this murder was too close to home to ignore.

With this intimate knowledge—and occasional friendships—with all the players, the suspects, the sheriff, and the police involved, Ballantine and his son set out together to find out what might have happened to the professor and uncover who is ultimately responsible.