Dan Mahoney is one of the best insurance investigators in the business. So when prize cattle worth hundreds of thousands of dollars start mysteriously dying, Dan is sent to the small town of Tatum, New Mexico, to check out the claims put in by wealthy cattleman Billy Roland Eklund.

Dan has barely opened his suitcase before he finds himself watching the locals pull a car out of the river. A flash flood is supposed to have claimed the lives of a young woman and a forty-year-old man, Eric Linden, who has just been released from prison. However Dan notices a wheel has been removed from the car, and that there is a bullet crease in the paint.

It's not Dan's job to investigate the death of Eric Linden, but Eric's name keeps popping up. Dan's sister introduces him to Eric's lovely widow, Elaine, and sparks fly. And the FBI wants to know whether Eric, a pilot who ran more things in and out of the country than just cattle, was set up.

Eric spent seven years in prison and thought he'd be getting a two million dollar pay off for time served. The FBI wants Dan to check out Billy Roland's finances and wine and dine Elaine for information they can use to find Eric's killer and maybe a drug kingpin.

The small towns of Tatum and nearby Roswell have many secrets. Not that they hoard them, it's just that Dan has to decide what is truth and what is an out and out lie.

Okay, here's my problem with Dan's character: in the beginning of the book, Dan thinks that Billy Roland is being nice to Dan in order to get the insurance money. Dan thinks to himself that he would never jeopardize his career or do something so unethical.

However, when the FBI approaches Dan, he gets a bit passive about his morals. He more than likes sweet Elaine, but he's willing to investigate her for the FBI in order to avoid having his taxes audited every year for the rest of his life. And he keeps silent about a number of things that I would have thought he'd feel compelled, as an ethical man, to disclose.

Also, Dan is supposed to be a topnotch insurance investigator. It is very difficult to believe that Dan didn't know, or bother to check the insurance policy, to find the beneficiary of the claim.

In addition, it took a while to find the rhythm for this mystery. In the beginning of Flash Flood four different characters take turns at being the narrator. This gives the story a choppy feel; the tale just flows better when Dan is the narrator.

However, there are some fine secondary characters in Flash Flood. The author uses the whole idea of small towns to her advantage by creating some typical small town characters and scenarios that play well with the storyline.

--Judith Flavell