Helen Knode Signs in Redondo Beach

Hipster movie critic Ann Whitehead pushed a Hollywood murder case to a bloody climax and almost died herself. Changed forever—less stupid and more fun—she has moved on to a place she knows well: the San Joaquin Valley, where her grandfather’s closest friend, Joe Balch, owns the oil company that keeps one town alive. Balch gets Ann a job with the Oklahoma contractor drilling his wildcat well. It’s hard work, but Ann loves both it and her crusty old boss, Emmet. Then a guy on her crew is killed by a falling hammer. Sheriffs rule it an accident but Ann’s LAPD squeeze, Detective Doug Lockwood, says it’s murder. Ann can’t resist the challenge of chasing a killer—and then the killer starts chasing her . . . From a writer whose first novel was praised as “highly literate, exceptionally action-packed and occasionally harrowing” (Chicago Tribune), this is a wild ride full of bad behavior and laughs, oil-field characters, and small-town atmosphere, starring a heroine who never does anything halfway.