Deerslayer

When a young boy is implicated in a murder, Brady goes hunting for the real killer

In Pete Brady’s new hometown, hunting is a religion, and he is expected to convert if he’s to run the local newspaper. When Sheriff Garitty takes his son out for his first hunt, he invites Pete to join them in the deer stand—a drafty, miserable place that would be unbearable if young Scotty weren’t so excited. Pete is staring down his rifle barrel, trying to decide if he has the nerve to kill a deer, when a shot rings out. The boy has hit his target. But when they go to retrieve the kill, they find it isn’t a deer, but a man.

Scotty has trained his whole life for this moment, and Pete can’t believe he would have mistaken a man—even a drunk like Dwayne Elkins—for an animal. To clear the boy’s name, Brady goes in search of an ingenious killer, and soon finds himself in the crosshairs.