When the American Dream becomes a nightmare... Running a one-man law practice in the heart of Oregon's wine country, Cal Claxton hires a young, undocumented man as an assistant, hoping to give him an opportunity to create more stability for himself and his family. Timoteo Fuentes is a bright, hardworking student by day and Cal's legal clerk by night, juggling both roles with determination and grit. When one of Timoteo's family members is brutally murdered, the migrant community is reluctant to cooperate with the police investigation for fear of deportation. Devastated by the loss and nervous about engaging with the legal system, the family turns to Cal for help. With Timoteo protected as a "Dreamer" from deportation, the two begin a dangerous investigation of ruthless people who leverage the fear of a vulnerable population for profit and an assassin who is as cunning as he is deadly. Can Cal and Timoteo untangle the web of deceit or will they become victims themselves?

"A fast-paced, tightly woven who-dunnit that kept me guessing to the end. Easley's vivid landscapes and well-drawn characters evoke comparisons to James Lee Burke, and Cal Claxton is as determined and resourceful as Burke's Dave Robicheaux." -Robert Dugoni, New York Times bestselling author Cal Claxton-a former LA prosecutor now practicing law in Oregon's wine country and who works to fish-has to pinch himself when his best friend Philip Lone Deer asks him to assist guiding a group of executives from a high tech firm in Portland. For a fly fisherman, it doesn't get any better than the salmon fly hatch on the Deschutes River, Oregon's legendary trout fishing venue. The execs, however, aren't coming just to fish. They're engaging in a conflict-resolution exercise where the future of the firm is to be determined. And Cal learns, too late, that the company's CEO is bringing his wife, the woman with whom Cal had a fling after their last Lone Deer-guided fishing trip. Cal soon broke it off, but.... The trip through the remote Deschutes Canyon turns ugly when CEO Hal is murdered during the first night's camp. Everyone in the party is a suspect, especially Cal. And his knife and vest have disappeared. Does the fact that the company's value is about to explode play into the crime? What about the freight line running along the river? Could a hired killer have come and gone from the scene of the crime by hopping trains? As two local cops come down heavily on Cal, can he come up with a water-tight solution as he did in the tricky Portland case Matters of Doubt?