Bad Axe County

Dennis Lehane meets Megan Miranda in this tense, atmospheric thriller about the first female sheriff in rural Bad Axe County, Wisconsin, as she searches for a missing girl, battles local drug dealers, and seeks the truth about the death of her parents twenty years ago-all as a winter storm rages in her embattled community. Fifteen years ago, Heidi White's parents were shot to death on their Bad Axe County farm. The police declared it a murder-suicide and closed the case. But that night, Heidi found the one clue she knew could lead to the truth-if only the investigators would listen. Now Heidi White is Heidi Kick, wife of local baseball legend Harley Kick and mother of three small children. She's also the interim sheriff in Bad Axe. Half the county wants Heidi elected but the other half will do anything to keep her out of law enforcement. And as a deadly ice storm makes it way to Bad Axe, tensions rise and long-buried secrets climb to the surface. As freezing rain washes out roads and rivers flood their banks, Heidi finds herself on the trail of a missing teenaged girl. Clues lead her down twisted paths to backwoods stag parties, derelict dairy farms, and the local salvage yard-where the body of a different teenage girl has been carefully hidden for a decade. As the storm rages on, Heidi realizes that someone is planting clues for her to find, leading her to some unpleasant truths that point to the local baseball team and a legendary game her husband pitched years ago. With a murder to solve, a missing girl to save, and a monster to bring to justice, Heidi is on the cusp of shaking her community to its core-and finding out what really happened the night her parents died.

In this sequel to the gritty and totally gripping thriller Bad Axe County, Sheriff Heidi Kick is investigating an illicit cage fighting ring with ties to white nationalism when her husband suddenly goes missing. It's a time for celebration in Bad Axe County as the town gathers for the annual Syttende Mai-or Norwegian Independence Day-festival. During this rollicking family-oriented event filled with dancing and food, Sheriff Heidi Kick discovers a dark and shocking event-a migrant worker has been savagely beaten but refuses to explain what happened. Then, a sudden disappearance of a band member shatters the festival. Something is deeply wrong in Bad Axe County. As she looks for answers, Heidi plunges into a secret underworld where high-stakes cage fights double as combat training for the White Nationalist movement. Then all hell breaks loose for Heidi when her husband disappears and his deepest secret is revealed-he fathered a mixed-race child before their marriage. Can she solve these alarming mysteries, reclaim her husband, and save the life of a stepson she never knew existed? A timely portrait of the deep divisions and simmering tensions brewing in our country today, Dead Man Dancing takes you into the dark heart of a movement defined by violence and hate. Featuring John Galligan's signature striking prose, engaging characters, and unforgettable twists and turns, Dead Man Dancing is a breathless thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Sheriff Heidi Kick has a dead body on her hands, a homeless young man saw alive miles from the Bad Axe. Chillingly, the medical examiner confirms what Sheriff Kick has been experiencing in her “own” reoccurring nightmares of late: the victim was buried alive. As the relentless summer heat bears down and more bodies are discovered, Sheriff Kick also finds herself embroiled in a nasty reelection campaign. Enter Vietnam veteran Leroy Fanta, editor-in-chief of the local paper who believes Heidi's strange case might be tied to a reclusive man writing deranged letters to the opinions section for years. With his heart and liver on their last legs, Fanta drums up his old journalistic instincts in one last effort to help Heidi find a lead in her case or at least a good story.

Wild Wild Country and Longmire meet in the latest in the "gritty, brash, and totally gripping" (The Real Book Spy) Bad Axe County series, as Sheriff Heidi Kick struggles to prevent a radical religious sect from turning her county into the next Jonestown, all while a dark secret from her past puts her life in danger. Winter is descending on Bad Axe County, and this year it is bringing something darker with it. On an abandoned lot, a strange new religious sect has built a compound, armed with guns and stoking fears in town. Rumors of sadistic rituals and a planned takeover abound, and when one of the sect's members is murdered, panic sets in. Sheriff Heidi Kick may not be a fan of the group, but she is also dismayed when the locals form a posse to get rid of them. Plus, with a murder investigation on her hands, Heidi doesn't have time for distractions. To add to her woes, Heidi soon finds out that the ex-boyfriend she helped put behind bars in her wild days is being released early - and forgiveness is not on his mind. With a tumultuous snowstorm on the horizon, the cult members are on the verge of freezing, the town is on the edge of violence, and Sheriff Kick is just one false step away from losing her family, her town, and her very life. A writer at the height of his powers, John Galligan weaves a riveting cat-and-mouse mystery, a startling examination of the price paid for following false leaders, and the power of the individual spirit to overcome past trauma.