Snake Eyes — Richard Hoyt

Trouble is piling up for cattle rancher Monty Hook. An outbreak of infectious anthrax forces him to slaughter hundreds of steers. His ranch is crawling with state police investigating the death of one of their own on Hook's land. Worse, the cattle appear to have been purposely infected, and the disease threatens to spread lethally to people in eastern Oregon's high country. Enter private eyes John Denson and Willie Prettybird, a shaman of the Cowlitz tribe. While Willie investigates by interviewing the animal people and looking at the mystery in the context of the Great Hoop (life), Denson deals with the people, including a bodacious bartender and a bogus televangelist, attends rodeos and high-school reunions, and romances a beautiful young Native American widow.