"...a story that oozes Southern gothic and atmospheric setting."—Booklife ReviewsIn the long-waited spin-off to the award-winning Raine Stockton Dog Mystery Hanover County Sheriff Buck Lawson leaves the mountains of North Carolina to take a job as the police chief of the small south Georgia town of Mercy, and soon finds himself in over his head. For one thing, his predecessor has been murdered...Leaving behind two failed marriages and a job that almost cost him his life, all Buck wants for himself and his new family is a fresh start. But Mercy is a town with a past as dark as the Blood River that runs through it, and the crime that resulted in the death of the beloved former chief of police may have its roots in an evil that goes back generations.Buck has inherited an unsolved homicide, a house that may well be haunted and a police department that is almost certainly corrupt. It falls to Buck to free an innocent man and bring the former police chief’s killer to justice while wading through the quagmire of incompetence and dishonesty that permeates his office. His efforts are both hampered and assisted by the benevolent despot of a mayor who runs the town like her own fiefdom and has no compunction about bending the law to suit her will. His only true ally, Buck comes to understand, is the dead man himself.When a young college student goes missing, Buck has reason to suspect foul play that may involve one of his police officers. He must rely on his gut to point him to those he can trust. But as the evidence leads him closer to an unthinkable truth, he realizes he is retracing the footsteps of the former police chief. Will the path lead him, as it did his predecessor, to his grave?Don’t miss this exciting first installment in the Blood River series!

Buck Lawson faces his most difficult challenge yet this thrilling second installment of The Blood River series With the Fourth of July coming up and the Mercy police force already stretched to its limit, police chief Buck Lawson investigates a fraud complaint that leads him to a missing newborn and a terrified, runaway mother. At the same time, the skeletal remains of two young boys are discovered buried on the property of a prominent citizen. As if that weren’t enough, the ghost of Buck’s predecessor, former chief Billy Aikens, pays him an unexpected visit… only this time it is not Billy’s ghost, but his son, Junior. Junior’s purpose in returning to Mercy is as mysterious as it is unsettling, and Buck gradually comes to suspect that Junior holds the key to at least one, if not both, of his current cases. Though still adjusting to a new job, a new town, and a new family, Buck is acutely aware that the probationary period specified by his contract with the City of Mercy is almost up. His relationship with the mayor has never been ideal, and he knows he could be fired at any time. It therefore seems imprudent to refuse when the mayor asks him to do a favor for an old friend and political ally, Jarrod Whitley. Whitley is the owner of the legendary Hollowgrove Plantation, which has been an institution in South Georgia for 200 years. The completely self-sustaining 9400-acre estate operates under its own set of rules which includes, as Buck soon comes to understand, a uniquely self-serving interpretation of the law. But when a young woman is murdered, the web of secrecy protecting Hollowgrove begins to unravel, revealing a network of illegal activity that has gone undeterred for decades. It’s up to Buck and his small band of loyal officers to do what no one has been able to do stop this empire of crime before anyone else dies. But time is running out, and the ruthless operators will stop at nothing to keep their secrets buried. “Ball does a great job of building suspense, and weaving different elements of mystery together in a story that oozes Southern gothic and atmospheric setting…” \—Booklife Reviews on Unfixable