Private Investigator James Pinter has been working closely with the Navajo tribal police for nearly a year when a woman dies at the Shiprock Hospital under questionable circumstances. Threatened only weeks before, the woman was a member of WARN, a group known on the reservation to loudly, and sometimes violently, air political grievances.
The victim's husband refuses an autopsy, and though the surgeon suspects sepsis, he will not rule out poisoning. When James and his partner find out that the victim's peyote?a hallucinogen allowed on the reservation for ceremonial purposes?has been contaminated, they draw up a list of the victim's enemies. At the top? Cecil Cody. One of the reservation's most notorious criminals and supplier of peyote to the Native American Church.
Chasing the psychedelic plant's origins, James finds himself back in Texas where a visit to an old friend leads him to the desert hills where the peyote is harvested, and eventually, to a lab known for its experimental research. As James starts to dig deeper, one thing seems certain: this sacred tradition is turning deadly, and its next victim could be someone close to James. Someone for whom he would do anything. Even kill.
