Digging Up Buck — Robert Rhode

On a rainy August morning, Annie Summers, a 24-year-old Texas Tech University graduate student, discovers a human skeleton in a trench her crew is excavating at the Yellow House Canyon archaeological site near Lubbock, Texas. By the time she reports the discovery to homicide detective Matt Danner, it's obvious she's uncovered a murder victim. She tells Matt, “I think our man was a tough, beer-drinking, twenty-seven-year-old, left-handed bull rider, who drove a Ford pickup, was married but played around, and somebody didn't like him, probably his wife.” Matt looks at her sternly. “And you say you haven't dug him up yet?” Annie shrugs. “I just dusted him off a little. I didn't want to bother you if he was ours -- Paleoindian or Apache or whatever.” Matt enlists her help in the investigation which becomes complicated as their relationship develops into a romantic one and members of her family become some of his primary suspects. Digging Up Buck is a thought-provoking, wickedly humorous novel which explores the power of love to distill truth, justice, and redemption from the darker side of human experience