Hagen thought his family had left Las Vegas for good. He had joined the CIA and moved to Berlin, while his younger brother had followed in their father's footsteps and joined the French Foreign Legion. For a while they had seemed free from the criminal underworld upon which the Vegas strip was built. But five days after his brother returns from his tour of duty, his body is found on the outskirts of the city. Word is that he'd returned from Europe with a valuable - and possibly stolen - ancient relic to sell. Now, Hagen has no choice but to come back and track down that missing item - and with it, his brother's killer. A quick-moving, fast-talking mystery in the vein of Elmore Leonard, the second Tony Hillerman Prizewinner offers a look at Vegas from beyond the casino floors. "The Ragged End of Nowhere" follows after the critically acclaimed first Hillerman winner, Christine Barber's "The Replacement Child".