On a beautiful summer morning in Minnesota a crop duster spots a naked body laid neatly in a ditch between two new home building sites. The county sheriff investigates the extraordinarily violent death and knowing he's over his head calls an old friend homicide investigator Dan Neumann.

Dan and investigator Maria Fernandez rush to Mora to help Dan's old mentor. Facts emerge Maria thinks she's seen this killer's handiwork before in Arizona. And that it may have had something to do with a local dog show.

Dan and Maria call on Dan's buddy Pete Anderson a veteran dog show guy. As the case grows more help joins search. FBI Special Agent Will Sanford heads up a team is working a major case looking for what could be a string of killings stretching back dozens of years. The killer is working more frequently now an indication that he may be moving toward the typical serial killer climax -- mass murder involving many innocent victims. They have to stop him.

Phil Rustad's insatiable curiosity and a "What if?" imagination have led him into multifaceted experiences ranging from making stained glass windows to being an International Dog Show judge to working with companies "that make things that go boom!" to training firearms skills. His natural story telling ability led him to write the Dan Neumann series of murder mysteries. Phil and his family live in the Twin Cities area.