This is the second book in the Henry Wright Mystery Series. Henry, recently a widower, is a retired chief of police from a small town in northern Wisconsin. He is living quietly in Palm Springs in a mid-century home with his roommate Charles Knightly. Henry has numerous ex-colleagues that he met during his long career who appreciate his skill for working the seemingly unsolvable cases.
Bob Sandman is a gold miner in California's Mother Lode who is entombed in his mine by a large explosion that seals him in.
Henry Wright drives from his home in Palm Springs to the Sierra Nevada foothills to help out Bill Rustow, the Sheriff of Tuolumne County.
Rustow is shorthanded and needs his help in figuring out who might have wanted Sandman dead. Henry spends a week in Sonora where he discovers that it is more like the Wild West of old than the sleepy little town it appears to be.
