Sawbones: Patrick Flint 3 — A What Doesn't Kill You Super Series Mystery

For fans of C.J. Box, Harlan Coben, and Craig Johnson — a 1977 Wyoming thriller in which a death penalty trial makes a small-town doctor's entire family a target.

It starts with a woman shot through the neck at the Meadowlark ski resort and ends with an ax — Patrick Flint's ax — and a burning truck hanging over Clear Creek canyon. In between: a judge who may have arranged his own wife's murder, a coach who definitely did, a conspiracy involving mineral rights and a Wyoming Senate campaign, and Perry Flint, twelve years old, who saw the shooter from the trees and didn't mention it for two weeks.

The upcoming trial of Billy Kemecke — the escaped killer from Switchback — is unraveling Buffalo, Wyoming one witness at a time. Judge Ellis dies in his garage. Jeannie Renkin is shot at the ski resort. Someone is picking off everyone connected to the case, and Dr. Patrick Flint's family is at the top of the list. He assembles a neighborhood security team of doctors, vets, and a mayor. The sheriff declines to help. It is not enough.

Meanwhile, Trish sneaks out, Brandon cheats, Perry keeps dangerous secrets, and Susanne falls down the back stairs with a head injury that makes her judgment considerably worse than usual. Patrick performs an emergency amputation with an ax in a burning truck. This is a Wednesday in Buffalo, Wyoming, 1977.

Sawbones is the third Patrick Flint novel, set in the Buffalo, Wyoming that author Pamela Fagan Hutchins grew up in. The ski slopes are real. The ax is fictional. Mostly. Complete series: 9 novels.

A death penalty trial, a sniper at the ski slope, and a mom with a head injury making the family's security decisions. Dr. Flint assembles a posse. It does not go smoothly. Complete series: 9 novels.