English Lessons

"In this always entertaining series, Hayes never fails to mix action and humor in an engaging manner."—Booklist

On a bleak Christmas morning, as she patrols a desolate canyon on the Arizona reservation, Sewa Tribal Police Officer Heather English stumbles upon the body of the newly-elected governor. A note explains his death is part of a drug war. His killer promises Heather will be among the victims.

That same morning, her Uncle Mad Dog, a Cheyenne wanna-be shaman, receives a grisly last-minute gift from someone who thinks Mad Dog is a drug lord: a severed human hand.

Meanwhile, Heather's father, Sheriff English of Benteen County, Kansas, calms a wild incident in a church parking lot. The crèche at the center of the town's largest holiday yard display has been desecrated. Its owner plans to kill the neighbors he suspects are responsible. At the family's urging, the sheriff takes the man's guns and promises not to let him make trouble. Soon the county fills with rumors that the sheriff is systematically violating Second Amendment rights and seizing every weapon. A local militia turns out, locked and loaded, ready to do what it takes to stop him.