Harstad, Donald

New York. 1998. September 1998. Doubleday. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. 0385488947. 291 pages. hardcover. Jacket illustration by Larry Lurin. keywords: Mystery Iowa . FROM THE PUBLISHER - In a mesmerizing debut, cop-turned-author Donald Harstad uses real-life events to paint a jarring picture of crime in America's heartland - where two-stoplight towns no longer offer refuge from modern-day brutality. Life in Maitland, Iowa, is usually predictable, even for a cop. But all that changes the day Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman's dispatcher receives the terrifying 911 call. The day cops find the mutilated bodies at a remote farmhouse. The first of eleven days Carl will never forget. As hotshot investigators fly in from New York, Carl and his fellow cops use old-fashioned detective work to piece together clues. But to turn suspicions into suspects, Carl must search among his closest friends to find a killer who has shocked and bewildered cops who'd thought they'd seen it all. And before it's over, Carl will be forced into an unrelenting spiral of chaos, coming face-to-face with evil he never dreamed could exist in Maitland . . or anywhere else. inventory #26038 ISBN: 0385488947.