At the biannual Highland Games in the small Texas town of Daunder, bagpipe player Nigel Pauley is ruthlessly stabbed with a sgian dubh, a knife pipers wear as part of their costume. Carl Geiger, a fellow piper and Nigel’s sworn enemy, is the prime suspect. After all, he’d been seen arguing with Nigel just hours before he turned up dead. Carl didn’t do it, but convincing the voluptuous deputy sheriff in charge of the investigation is another matter, which is further complicated by the growing attraction between them. In order to prove his innocence, Carl is determined to find out who actually murdered Nigel, and why. But the deeper he digs, the more people he discovers who might have wanted Nigel dead. Nigel’s last-minute act before he died may lead Carl to Nigel’s murderer—or to his own death. Jennifer Lewis Williams, a recently retired lawyer, is the creator of colorful characters for her crime fiction and science fiction novels. After twenty years working with criminal cases, she has gleaned some of the reasons why individuals betray those closest to them, and what makes criminals to do what they do. Williams was born and raised in Topeka, Kansas. In 1994, she earned a B.A. degree in English, with a creative writing emphasis, from the University of Kansas; in 1998, she earned a J.D. degree from Washburn University School of Law. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Southwest Chapter, Sisters in Crime (national), and Sisters in Crime North Dallas. She loves reading and writing mysteries, science fiction, and tales about the Old West.