Small-town Texas sheriff Dan Rhodes is in for another puzzling mystery in this next in the entertaining, award-winning seriesBefore classes start one morning, the body of English instructor Earl Wellington is found outside the building of the community college. Wellington was clearly involved in a struggle with someone and has died as a result. Sheriff Dan Rhodes pursues and arrests Ike Terrell, a student who was fleeing the campus. Ikes father is Able Terrell, a survivalist who has withdrawn from society and lives in a gated compound. Hes not happy that his son has chosen to attend the college, and hes even less happy with the arrest.Rhodes discovers that Wellington and Ike had had a confrontation over a paper that Wellington insisted Ike plagiarized.
