Joe Pickett is the new game warden in Twelve Sleep, Wyoming, a town where nearly everyone hunts and the game warden -- especially one like Joe who won't take bribes or look the other way -- is far from popular. When he finds a local hunting outfitter dead, splayed out on the woodpile behind Joe's state-owned home, he takes it personally. There had to be a reason that the outfitter, with whom he's had run-ins before, chose his backyard, his woodpile...

"It's an hour away from darkness, a bitter winter storm is raging, and Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett is deep in the forest edging Battle Mountain, shotgun in his left hand, his truck's detached steering wheel handcuffed to his right--and an arrow-riddled corpse splayed against the tree in front him. The apparent murder victim and the sudden onslaught of the snowstorm warn: Get off the mountain. But Joe knows this episode is far from over. And when...

Game warden Joe Pickett is attempting to enjoy - all right, survive - his mother-in-law's wedding to a local big-shot rancher when he receives some disturbing news: Will Jensen, a fellow Wyoming game warden and a good friend, has killed himself. And Joe's been picked to temporarily run Jensen's Teton district. Jackson, Wyoming, is a far cry from Joe's hometown of Saddlestring - it's the epicenter for many environmental extremists and an elite playground...