Hallowed Ground — Lori G. Armstrong

Grisly murders are rocking the small county of Bear Butte where Julie Collins has spent the last few months learning the PI biz without the guidance of her best friend and business partner, Kevin Wells. Enter dangerous, charismatic entrepreneur Tony Martinez, who convinces Julie to take a case involving a missing five-year-old Native American girl, the innocent pawn in her parents child custody dispute. Although skeptical about Martinez motives in hiring her, and confused by her strange attraction to him, Julie nevertheless sees the opportunity to hone her investigative skills outside her office.

But something about the case doesn't ring true. The girls father is foreman on the controversial new Indian casino under construction at the base of the sacred Mato Paha, and the girls mother is secretly working for a rival casino rumored to have ties to an east coast crime family. Local ranchers - including her father - a Lakota Holy group, and casino owners from nearby Deadwood are determined to stop the gaming facility from opening.

With the body count rising, the odds are stacked against Julie to discover the truth behind these hidden agendas before the murderer buries it forever. And when Julie unwittingly attracts the attention of the killer, she realizes no place is safe ... not even HALLOWED GROUND.