Fall comes to Pepin County with a vengeance as Deputy Sheriff Claire Watkins confronts a new evil festering beneath the placid surface of the Wisconsin farm community. A refugee from the Twin Cities, Claire has slowly adapted to small-town lifeespecially now that she loves and lives with Rich Haggard. But in this rural area, other folks are dangerously restless.One is Daniel Reiner, a wealthy part-time resident whos been buying up too much landat least as far as the locals are concerned. Another is gambling addict and aging gold digger Patty Jo Tilde, who recently married a widower twenty years her senior. Patty is itching to inherit her husbands property, sell it to Reiner, and leave the countryside behind. The only stumbling blockher husband must die.Add to the mix a suspicious goat-herding daughter-in-law and a wounded elk, and things quickly reach a boiling point. As Claire Watkins delves deeper into the mystery, she believes shes uncovered a deadly history of lies, deceit, arson, and poison. Her problem is to prove itand then she learns what happened to Patty Jos last husband. . . .Evoking the strong community values and the natural beauty of the Mississippi River Valley, this new Claire Watkins novel is Logues most exciting yet. Poison Heart is a riveting tale of those who live off the landand those who end up six feet under it.From the Hardcover edition.