Publication Date: September 21, 2024
The Sonoran Desert of Arizona becomes the resting place for the rotting body of an undercover FBI agent. Smuggling drugs and illegals across the border has become a game with no rules. It’s a treacherous place where fools and losers often pay with their lives. It’s a play board filled with ruthless players whose hearts are as cold as the gold they pursue.
Brad Hanley, FBI Director of Border control, fears there is a traitor in his task force and turns to his friend Lance Tallbear to consult on the crime. With his help, he wants to find the agent’s killer and reveal the traitor in his midst. It means going undercover, to infiltrate the deadly Sinaloa Cartel. Accepting an assignment that is off the books, hidden even from others in Hanley’s service. He’ll be without the protection of his badge or office, and all alone. An impossible task? Tallbear feels the pull of a debt of honor he owes Hanley from their prior case together. But is doing a favor for his friend, worth losing both the life he has with Sally Yazzie, the woman he loves, and likely his life?
The Arizona desert serves as a backdrop for a crime thriller after the body of an undercover FBI agent is discovered.
Sheriff Lance Tallbear returns for another adventure in The Killing Ground by L.D. Lauritzen. With organized crime running rampant in drug trafficking and smuggling people across the border, the threat level is high.
Having read the first installment of the series, I found it enjoyable to revisit both Tallbear and his FBI buddy, Brad Hanley. However, their murder investigation develops into an explosive mission packed with danger, especially with the potential that someone is leaking information.
Tallbear’s Native American heritage comes to the forefront as he and Hanley take on the destructive Sinaloa Cartel. There’s plenty of action-packed adventure featuring interesting characters willing to do anything to protect their highly lucrative, yet illegal, business dealings.
The Killing Ground delivers a solid crime thriller that propels the main characters into an investigation that may cost them their lives.
 
A retired agriculture teacher. L.D. Lauritzen has worked across the southwest. Working ranches in the Dakotas and Colorado. Construction all over the southwest, docks, dealing cards, and even a stint as a beekeeper. Through his travels he’s met and worked with people in many walks of life. Through golf, coin-shooting, visiting ghost towns, and other activities, bringing life to his stories, characters, and plots. Along with my wife, I travel, take a lot of pictures, and been known to spin a tale or two. Somewhere along the way I decided to try writing. Not sure of what words I want to put to paper, I write a variety of short stories, westerns, mysteries, and science fantasy. Fascinated with life, it amazes me how we manage to survive given our penchant for destructive behavior.
I’m glad you enjoyed the story. Great review. Thank you.