Delta View

In 1979, a convict serving time for robbery, Marion Albert “Mad Dog” Pruett, was placed in the witness protection program for testifying against an inmate for a murder that Pruett himself later admitted to committing. In 1981, as part of a week-long crime spree, Pruett kidnapped a bank teller in Jackson, MS. Forcing the teller to drive to a rural area and then walking her into a heavily wooded area, he killed her by shooting her.
This terrible event made the author wonder what might have happened if a skilled hunter had been in a position to intervene when “Mad Dog” followed his victim into the woods. The setting for the story was inspired by the author’s own experience of encountering an Indian mound while hunting near the ruins of a Civil War plantation.
The resulting fictional story begins with the Natchez Indians in the 1700’s and ties the earthen mound of those people with the kudzu covered ruins of a Civil War mansion and family cemetery. The Indian mound is the hub of the story, connecting the deaths of an Indian princess and a plantation owner’s wife and daughter to the modern day victims of a serial killer who are young, female dancers at a Delta strip club. Secrets of the Indian mound and cemetery are revealed.
Bush pilot and sometimes covert operator, Deke Desmarais, must solve the murder mystery by first solving a 152 year old riddle and then tricking his suspect into a confrontation that includes wild hogs in an underground environment. Deke becomes involved with multiple love interests and at one point is forced to protect his young and attractive half-Indian daughter, Nikki, in a life-or-death situation.