Delta Dead

Women are dying in the Arkansas delta. So far three are dead...two left naked by the side of the highway, and a third, with a screwdriver jammed down her throat, by the banks of the Mississippi River. Small town police are incompetent, causing a desperate mayor to challenge members of the press to catch the killer. None of them - not the mayor, not his police force, and certainly not the young reporters on a reckless hunt - realize the killer has turned a deadly eye toward the hunters themselves. Valerie Costello and Grace Welch are long-ago friends who meet again as reporters in a small Arkansas town. Their first meeting - and their second - are destined. Valerie is haunted by a troubled childhood in the north and Grace, a steely southern girl, is her redeemer. When both become targets, one must save the other as a frantic clock ticks. The killing of the three is only the beginning of a blood trail that stretches long, from northeast Arkansas to upstate New York. The toolbox killer, who quiets for a time, emerges again with deadly rage, and with a hiding place in plain sight.