Fistful of Rain — Baron Birtcher

The second Sheriff Dawson mystery has “lots of twists and turns that stretch back over years, then a mind-blowing ending that puts everything into place” (Killer Nashville).
 
Winner -- 2019 Best Book of the Year, Killer Nashville
 
Ty Dawson, now the sheriff of Oregon's Meriwether County, is ready to put a trying year behind him, but he's afforded no such luck. In a country still coming to grips with the Vietnam War, Watergate, and Charles Manson, Ty's neck of the woods isn't safe from the turmoil -- especially when a commune of young so-called hippies springs up out of nowhere . . .
 
A longtime local sheep rancher accuses the Rainbow Ranch residents of livestock theft, putting Ty in the middle of a culture clash. Though Ty finds no evidence of a crime, the rancher brings in his own stock detective. Behind fences topped with razor wire, the commune and its enigmatic guru hold secrets of their own -- many of which have nothing to do with peace, love, and understanding. Tensions flare, setting off a bloody wave of violence that will forever scar the place Ty calls home, unless he can stop it.
 
“Elegantly written . . . Ty may strike some readers as almost too smart, too well educated, and too pedantic for a small-town sheriff, but his insights into 1970s social issues make him an irresistible spokesman for the era.” -- Publishers Weekly
 
“A modern Western . . . The characters are well developed, and place descriptions make it easy to visualize the landscapes.” -- New York Journal of Books