When Denson undertakes to clear a Washington State client of a small-time marijuana charge, he finds himself in spotted owl country; that tiny denizen of first-growth timber is up against the logging industry. What will it be: endangerment of a species, or the loss of thousands of jobs? 

Now a spotted owl is found murdered—strangled, to be precise. Denson's sometime partner Willie Prettybird, a Cowlitz Indian who may or may not be a shaman, tells Denson that the Spirit Animals want him to investigate the killing, and things get cosmic. Especially since the corpus delecti seems to have been misplaced. 

Beautiful Jennie Maclvar, of the Fish and Wildlife Service, saw the dead owl before it vanished—and is determined to find the killer. But then she is murdered. Her death hits Denson right in the heart. What seemed a simple little marijuana case turns into a hunt for a vicious killer who may have targeted Denson himself as the next victim.... 

RICHARD HOYT'S John Denson Mysteries are "sophisticated, well-written and excellent examples of the genre" (The New York Times). Now John Denson faces the toughest challenge of his career....