An ambush in the deep woods of Nation County, Iowa, leaves a Federal agent dead, and marks the return of Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman in Donald Harstad’s second entry in this excellent series. Maitland goes national when an ambush in a Sensemilla marijuana field by an unknown group using military weapons and tactics points to something much broader in scope.

Harstad brings back DCI Agent Hester Gorse, his boss Lamar, and the sweet and resourceful dispatcher, Sally, giving us that familiar feel all good series have. Deputy Sheriff Houseman’s dislike for the impersonal term "Known Dead" gets a good workout before this one is over.

When Lamar goes down injured in a tense hostage situation, a federal task force led by a-not-so-forthcoming agent named Volont become involved. Due to a lack of cooperation, Houseman and the gang must use old-fashioned police work to discover what is being kept from them by the Feds.

Harstad’s blend of police procedural and rural atmosphere goes down like an ice cold soda on a hot day. Deputy Houseman’s humor during tense situations and his thoughts on two police funerals he will have to attend before this one is over add poignancy and depth to a briskly paced story.

This was the follow-up to the debut novel in this series, Eleven Days, which I highly recommend be read first. Once you do, you'll want to catch this one, The Big Thaw, and Code 61 for certain. While not as widely heralded as it should be, this series will come as a pleasant surprise to those who enjoy the genre. ( )

Read this while sick, so had trouble following the plot. Of the four Harstad books I've read, I liked this one the least. ( )

A very good police procedural set in Iowa. The story takes you on a roller coaster ride that did not disapoint. ( )

Recipe for a great story:

Donald Harstad mixes the following ingredients:

1. Carl Houseman, a Nation County, Iowa, deputy sheriff and chief homicide investigator.

2. Some guys dressed like Navy Seals who kill a cop, a bad guy, and a state narcotics agent in the woods near​ a marijuana patch.

3. A local farmer who has mortgaged his farms and those of his children to a company that insists gold is the only "real" currency and investing in their stash in South America bring great riches when the U.S. collapses and the Belgian troops (All 10 of them? asks Houseman) of the U.N. take over zone 5. And by the way, these guys will happily take your personal check for the phantom gold.

4. A shoot-out at the farmer's place which kills a local reporter who had been asked to come in and hear the plight of the insurgents.

5. Hester, a nifty Iowa Bureau of Investigation agent.

6. Carl's self-depracating humor.

7. A substantial dose of realism.

8. Jurisdictional gerrymandering.

9. A shipment of stolen RPG's. (The scene where one idiot tries to take out a jail wall by shooting the thing off in his car is pretty funny.)

The result is another really good county police procedural. Harstad makes several very important observations about the luncacy of the far right extremeists. I suspect he speaks from experience, having been an Iowa deputy sheriff for many years. This is the second in the series. As usual I read a couple out of order. I recommend reading this title before The Big Thaw.

Well read by Ron McClarty ( )

Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman is part of a team conducting surveillance on a marajuana patch at a state park.

It should have been routine but something goes terribly wrong. Officer Bill Kellerman of the narcotics division and a doper are killed. At first it was thought that they killed each other but when this was not the case, Houseman was assigned to a task force to find the killers.
Investigators interview farmers in the area of the crime scene and serve papers on a farmer named Stritch who heads a militia group. He has land posted saying he would shoot uninvited officers. He is heavily in debt and thinks the police are coming to evict him.
Many plot twists tied nicely together by Harstad. This is a fun read. ( )