Death Rattle, Book 2

There is a killer at large in the oak grasslands of southeastern Arizona whose weapon of choice is a deadly variety of southwestern rattlesnake. Deputy Sheriff Calvin Creede doesn't like snakes, but with the help of veteran herpetologist Dr. Hazel Smith and his fiancé, Maria Obregon, he seeks to find the mountain cave from which a collection of Mojave rattlesnakes recently was looted. Then he must determine which of a variety of suspects has taken them home. In this, the second installment of Arizona Borderland Mysteries, Carl and Jane Bock continue their story about a deputy sheriff in an isolated corner of Arizona's smallest county. It is a land once dominated by a few cowboys and their cattle, but Deputy Creede finds his job increasingly complicated by the trappings of southwestern exurbia, including vineyards, drugs, border tension, and high-end housing developments.