[Read by Tom Taylorson]<br><br> The next installment in the ''best police-procedural series being written in America'' (<i>Chicago Tribune</i>) <br><br> During the height of a particularly brutal Vermont winter, a woman's body is found one morning hanging high above the interstate. The woman, found with the word ''dyke'' carved on her chest, is quickly determined to be the victim of a brutal murder. That alone is enough to bring in Joe Gunther and his Vermont Bureau of Investigation team. But when the victim is identified not only as a state senator but as an intimate friend of the governor's, it unleashes a publicity maelstrom that makes a difficult investigation even more challenging. While the anti-lesbian message is an obvious feint meant to mislead investigators, it does reveal that the governor is gay, and forces her to publicly acknowledge that fact.<br><br> In the meantime, while the publicity rages on to even greater heights, the police begin to focus intensely on the dead senator's life. One thing they uncover is that she had a fondness for recreational marijuana. In Vermont, however, neither lesbianism nor marijuana use justify murder. It's up to Gunther and his team to find out not just who, but why?<br><br>
