When Hambone Dolbey, a rodeo star with a deathly fear of water, turns up in a wet suit, floating in water, and quite dead, his friends know something is fishy. Two of them ask CJ Floyd to find their friend's killer. CJ quickly discovers that the dead man's colorful past encompassed a lot more then roping and riding—like a kinky, forbidden, and potentially dangerous affair and some wild yarns about discovering diamonds on his property. And while CJ is unearthing a trail of shady land and diamond mining deals, he has to watch his back and his front. Not only is he hunting down a murderer who's already struck twice, but the sister of a bond skipper he's run down is laying a trap to kill him. Tightly plotted, and rich in character and detail, this classic contemporary mystery vividly evokes the new American West.