Intrepid rancher Shirley McClintock hasn’t seriously lost her temper for two or three weeks, but when, struggling to put a wounded deer out of its misery, she stumbles over a human skeleton half-buried in autumn leaves, she does. A second murder, accomplished with the same arrow that had pierced the body of the deer, sends her on the warpath. Impatient with the ineffectual bumbling of the sheriff, she launches her own investigation. The crimes are mysterious and apparently unrelated, but in both she catches a whiff of bigotry and sin, a sense of something rotten in the town’s religious and banking communities. Only proof is lacking, but that, when she finds it, cannot be used. Not without putting the person nearest her heart into mortal danger.

UNCLE JANUARY'S ASHES ARE BLOWING IN THE WIND AND A KILLER IS ON THE MOVE. — While vacationing in England, Uncle January and his third wife, Billie-B, are killed by a London van. Their ashes are brought home to Colorado by Billie-B's devoted daughter Claris, for burial on a family ranch. — But when Claris arrives bearing not two but three little white boxes—the third, she says, holds the remains of a distant cousin—Uncle January's own kinfolk are politely dumbfounded. After all, they hadn't even known the poor old fellow. When they discover the next day that someone has dug up and scattered the contents of two of the boxes, they are shocked and scared. The curious discovery of yet a fourth box of ashes lures Cousin Shirley McClintock—rancher and former adviser to Washington mucketymucks—into a serious investigation of the mysterious family. And what she finds is good deal more deadly than even her grieving relatives had bargained for....

The new owner of the Jewell place has drained the wetlands, poisoned the scrub, and destroyed the wildlife. Neighbor Shirley McClintock is just about ready to kill. So when someone does kill the ruthless greenhorn easterner, Shirley is the prize suspect. But she wasn't the only one to bear the deceased a grudge. There is a wealth of suspects—and Shirley better narrow them down fast, before she takes the rap herself!

Shirley McClintock is vacationing in New Mexico with her friend J.Q., her daughter Allison, and Allison's schoolmate April. While exploring a mesa on muleback, a sharpshooter wings Shirley's mule, sending her into the hospital with a crushed knee, and kills April. Down but far from out, Shirley wrestles with a mystery that's as deadly as a rattlesnake . . .

When a mysterious guest dies at Shirley McClintock's Santa Fe guest house, the other guests are blissfully unconcerned. The crazy lady in Ditch House goes her crazy way; her drunken companion continues to drink; and the middle-aged pair continue to enjoy the gentle landscape. But Shirley senses something wicked just around the corner. Like cold-blooded murder. And a terrifying evil coming closer and closer to her peaceful abode . . .

Shadow Dancer Was Readying Her Hogan For A Healing Ceremony—and Her Own Terrible Death.... And the beautiful cosmic healer, nee Bridget McCree, had not been dead long when her neighbor Shirley McClintock found her viciously mutilated body. Was the murder the work of extraterrestrials, as recent cattle mutilations in the Santa Fe area are believed to be? Shirley's investigation into Shadow Dancer's torrid romances and tangled family affairs suggests more traditional greed, lust, and envy. So after a second sordid killing and sly rumors that Shirley and her family are somehow involved in both crimes, she goes on the straight toward the unexpected truth and a head-on confrontation with Shadow Dancer's murderous last client...

WHEN MURDER PAYS A VISIT, THE HONEYMOON IS OVER. They were scarcely more than children, these lovebirds lying dead in a New Mexico canyon. Shirley McClintock, owner of the Santa Fe guest ranch where they were staying, is baffled by the tragedy. Especially when almost everything about the couple turns out to be false, except the thousand-dollar bills they spent so lavishly. Who were these mysterious newlyweds, and why are so many people looking for them? Shirley finds out the hard way—after more murder and the resurrection of an excruciating tragedy from her own past... "Shirley's a winner, and so is Ms. Oliphant." —The New York Times Book Review