When the wealthy McDonough family is murdered just as drilling for nickel and copper on their property is about to start, police chief Lew Ferris discovers that the family was filing a lawsuit to prevent the drilling, setting in motion a deadly chain of events

In the tiny northwoods Wisconsin town of Loon Lake there are rumors that a precious vein of nickel and copper is buried on the property of wealthy Grace McDonough. The drilling is about to begin, but not if environmentalist Pete Ferris can help it. When Grace's son, Noah, is caught in a sordid sex crime, police chief Lew Ferris, makes the arrest. A day later, Lew is stricken when her brother Pete turns up dead, a bloody pry bar found in the woods nearby. Then Grace's body is discovered in a car at the bottom of a river-- and Noah has vanished, later found murdered on the McDonough property. -- adapted from jacket