But the shops and restaurants are filled with seasonal residents and tourists who are in town to escape even worse temperatures in the desert cities of Tucson and Phoenix.Locals and tourists alike are thrilled when the Rim Country Renegades came to town for the annual Pioneer Days celebration, recalling the days of the Wild West with cowboy poetry and putting on their trick roping and fast-draw shooting demonstrations. But when something goes terribly wrong during a staged shootout between the town’s handsome sheriff and vengeful outlaw Billy McKinney, and someone is left lying dead on Main Street, the entire Big Lake Sheriff’s Department scrambles to figure out what happened.Was it a tragic accident in spite of all of the safety precautions put in place to prevent something like that from happening? Or was it something more sinister? Were rumors of an illicit affair between the dead man’s wife and the outlaw really true? Was the sheriff betrayed by a man he considered his best friend?Spurned lovers, secret jealousies, and long-held resentments come to light in the search for the truth. A truth that will leave many wondering just how well they really know the people around them.Meanwhile, an unlikely hero emerges to save another woman from certain death. A hero who once again will have the people of Big Lake asking the same question, do we ever really know someone and what they are capable of?One reviewer has referred to the Big Lake mystery series as “Mayberry Meets Twin Peaks.” It’s a combination of humor and intrigue that launched New York Times bestselling author Nick Russell’s first Big Lake book into Amazon’s Top 100 Paid Kindle books for over 78 days, and Big Lake Shootout, the twentieth book in this popular series, is sure to be a hit, too!

    With heartbreak and rejection being too heavy of a cocktail to continuously digest, she turns to drug use in order to dull her reality. Unfortunately, her spiral leads to homelessness and a need for rescue. Desperate for cash, she finesses her way into an underground casino. Taken in by the action, it’s clear this is a place she doesn’t belong. However, a meeting with a powerful man causes her to lose her potential marks and gain a path to healing that just may let her heart tag along. Smoke is suave and charismatic, and he knows his business. As the owner of an underground casino, his eyes and ears are always open. Dollars don’t get played or paid without him knowing about it. Faces become familiar after first glance. When a woman, less made up and more run down, enters his establishment, Smoke instantly recognizes her as out of place. Yet, there’s something about her that draws him in. He wants to care for her... help her reclaim her light. If only the task was that simple. Will Smoke and Mira find themselves in the mirrors of each other? Or will the truth of circumstances fade the promises of the future?

     Submissions included within this volume are officer accounts of horrific crime scenes, strange sexual injuries, odd drug-induced behavior, shocking deaths, and warnings from RNs and M.D.s regarding publicity stunts and wacky ideas. Just when you think you've seen and heard it all, you'll turn the page and stand corrected.