The Barnabas Nickel is the first in a gripping mystery series, featuring a worldly Hill Country Texan, his theologian girlfriend and the tar balls of knotty trouble that require page turning, consternation, introspection and ethical re-evaluations to determine which player, if any, deserve redemption. From the start Horst is suffering from murder's ethical hangover which is complicated by the reappearance of his dead friend, and blow-back from Leo's sloppy nickel work. Ghosts from his past complicate every action and reaction. Horst finds himself in a swirl of black waters which taint his relationships. In the new game, the cost of a mistake is your life. In the tradition of strategic criminal warfare under our very eyes, plot-twists-and-turns will have readers watching the movements of stranger's eyes. The characters are engaging. Some we resemble, others we know and the ones that keep us up at night, we hope never to meet. The problem is we must consider is whether a killer of bad guys can be good. Evaluate the action reports yourself on the battlefields of today, and by the end you may find you have more in common with the killers than the police. And that's what makes our dilemma all the more unsettling.