It's elk season in the Rockies, but this year one hunter is stalking a different kind of prey.
When the call comes in on the radio, Joe Pickett can hardly believe his ears: game wardens have found a hunter dead at a camp in the mountains - strung up, gutted, skinned, and beheaded, as if he were the elk he'd been pursuing. A spent cartridge and a poker chip lie next to his body.
Ripples of horror spread through the community, and with a possibly psychotic killer on the loose, Governor Rulon is forced to end hunting season early for the first time in state history - outraging hunters and potentially crippling the state's income from the loss of hunting license revenue. But when the brutal murders eerily coincide with the arrival of radical anti-hunting activist Klamath Moore, Pickett knows the Governor's ruling is the least of his worries. Are the murders the work of a deranged activist or of a lone psychopath with a personal vendetta?
As always, Joe Pickett is the governor's go-to man, and he's put on the case to track the murderous hunter, as more bodies - and poker chips - turn up.




![Osman, Richard PREORDER FICTION New Richard Osman: The Impossible Fortune [2025] paperback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/osman-richard-richard-osman-the-impossible-fortune-2025-paperback-9780241743997-1156577875_{width}x.jpg?v=1767636317)
![Cassidy, Marie BARGAIN CRIME FICTION Marie Cassidy: Body of Truth [2023] paperback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/cassidy-marie-marie-cassidy-body-of-truth-2023-paperback-57205093368147_{width}x.jpg?v=1726975397)
![Mcfadden, Freida CRIME FICTION Freida McFadden: The Housemaid [2023] paperback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/mcfadden-freida-freida-mcfadden-the-housemaid-2023-paperback-58000377774419_{width}x.jpg?v=1727361133)
![Coffey, Edel BARGAIN CRIME FICTION Edel Coffey: Breaking Point: The most gripping debut of the year - you won't be able to look away [2022] paperback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/coffey-edel-edel-coffey-breaking-point-the-most-gripping-debut-of-the-year-you-won-t-be-able-to-look-away-2022-paperback-57289708896595_{width}x.jpg?v=1727455988)