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This box set includes two mystery novels written by Edgar and Shamus Award finalist Ben Rehder. Included are Buck Fever (first novel in the Blanco County mystery series) and Gone the Next (first novel in the Roy Ballard mystery series).

The trouble at the Conlee’s lakeside estate begins when vandals topple and destroy an expensive Italian fountain. Then they slash the tires and damage the paint job on a Jaguar. That’s when Roy Ballard's client, the insurance company, asks him to catch the vandal in the act and prevent future claims. Surprisingly, the homeowner, Norman Conlee, opposes the idea. He intends to address the problem himself by fencing the property and keeping his revolver handy. Eventually, though, he gives in, and Roy goes to work.

An abduction is just the beginning in a case of betrayal and revenge that will ultimately strike at the soul of the St. Paul Police Department. The ruggedly handsome Mac McRyan, a fourth-generation cop, is faced with a complicated brazen daytime kidnapping, a media storm surrounding the case, and political scrutiny. It is a case of betrayal and revenge that will ultimately strike at the soul of the St. Paul Police Department.

Jeremy Sawyer was having a great time on a party barge on Lake Travis, and then he was suddenly nowhere to be found. Had he jumped? Fallen off? Been pushed? Roy Ballard - an expert in catching insurance cheats - intends to find out. After all, Jeremy Sawyer was the nephew of one of his biggest clients, and she can't shake the suspicion that it wasn't an accident. It isn't long before Roy and his partner Mia Madison begin to draw the same conclusion.

Reed Ferguson loves film noir and classic detective fiction, and he wants more than anything to emulate his hero, Humphrey Bogart. So Reed tries his hand at the detecting business and what follows is a humorous journey into suspense territory.

Does Caleb Dimmick really work at his father’s motorcycle dealership, or does he simply ride the payroll, thereby giving his dad a nice tax break? Roy Ballard, a legal videographer specializing in insurance fraud, is hired to find out. After just a few days, Roy is convinced everything is legit - until a dealership employee is gunned down in his own backyard, possibly by an assassin on an orange sport bike.

Buck Fever: It's the week before deer hunting season in Texas and the locals are getting restless. Game Warden John Marlin has his hands full with poaching complaints coming in faster than he can write out-of-season tickets. Then a call of a different sort comes in. A man dressed up in some sort of deer costume has been shot at the Circle S ranch, and witnesses are reporting a massive wild-eyed buck prancing about the pasture in a lovesick frenzy. Marlin's seen a lot in his years, but this is wilder than he could have imagined.

Lennox Armbruster was struck by a speeding vehicle - but was it an accident or an insurance scam gone wrong? Roy Ballard is hired to find out, and he soon learns there’s a third possibility: attempted murder. Joe Jankowski, the man who hit Armbruster, is a tough-talking player in the construction industry, and a feud with one of his former employees has shown that he has a temper to match his brash personality. When Roy and his partner Mia Madison attempt to dig deeper, they learn just how far Jankowski will go to shut down their investigation.

Deke Gilbert was a legend on the central Texas demolition derby circuit, until a suspicious late-night crash ended his life. Unfortunately, Deke left behind a teenage daughter, Christie, who now has nowhere to go. That’s when good ol’ boys Red O’Brien and Billy Don Craddock step up and, in a rare moment, do the right thing. They give Christie a place to stay until her 18th birthday, just a few months away. But things get complicated when Christie brings home gossip that draws Red and Billy Don into an investigation of Deke’s death.

Lonnie Blair was sitting comfortably in a deer blind on a crisp January afternoon when his life came to a sudden, violent end. Was it an accident, or had Blair’s long history of womanizing finally caught up to him? Blanco County Game Warden John Marlin joins the investigation and quickly identifies a prime suspect - a neighboring ranch foreman with several questionable incidents in his past. But is the answer really that simple?

When a Blanco County hog hunter goes missing after a fight with his girlfriend, it's not a laughing matter - even when one of today's hottest blue-collar comedians is a suspect. Game warden John Marlin joins forces with the sheriff's department once again to root through the clues and discover the truth. Meanwhile, two of the county's most notorious poachers - Red O'Brien and Billy Don Craddock - decide to launch an investigation of their own, and the cops are not amused.

Everyone thinks Boz Gentry died in a fiery traffic accident, but Roy Ballard and Mia Madison aren't convinced. As legal videographers, it's their job to provide evidence of insurance fraud - and the more they dig into the Gentry case, the more they realize this might be the most elaborate scheme they've ever encountered. Of course, when millions of dollars are at stake, con men will take drastic steps to protect their scam- including arson, assault, or even murder.

It's the week before deer hunting season, as close to a statewide holiday as you get in Texas, and the locals are getting restless. Game Warden John Marlin has his hands full with poaching complaints coming in faster than he can write out-of-season tickets. Then a call of a different sort comes in. A man dressed up in some sort of deer costume has been shot at the Circle S ranch, and witnesses are reporting a massive wild-eyed buck prancing about the pasture in a lovesick frenzy.

Reed Ferguson's first case is a daring adventure, complete with a dose of film noir, and a lot of humor. With a great supporting cast of the Goofball Brothers, Reed's not too bright neighbors, and Cal, Reed's computer geek friend, This Doesn't Happen in the Movies is detective noir at its best. Follow Reed as he solves crime akin to his cinematic hero, Humphrey Bogart.

On opening day of dove season in Blanco County, Jimmy Ray Gladstone is confronted, then shot, by an attractive stranger with an unusual physical characteristic. But who is she, and how did she know about the robbery Jimmy Ray and his brother Russell had been planning? Game Warden John Marlin will have to figure it out on his own, because the sheriff’s office is stretched thin, Jimmy Ray has a head injury and isn’t making much sense, and Russell is nowhere to be found.

When Blanco County rancher Phil Colby encounters a beautiful trespasser bathing in his creek, he has plenty of questions, but she isn’t offering any answers. Before long, Colby realizes she’s on the run. But from what? Over time, he earns her trust, and she begins to share her story.

When Ania Kozak hits Vegas, she’s only looking for a place to relax and lay low with her stolen cash and diamonds. But Sin City has other plans for “Annie".

Finn Mitchell has grown up in the shadow of his father, US President Leif Mitchell, but is now ready to step into the limelight in his own right. After successfully vying with his half-brother to become the newest member of the U.S. Supreme Court, Finn is poised to hear a landmark abortion issue case that could completely reverse Roe v. Wade.

Potential client Brad Webb asks Denver private investigator Reed Ferguson to look into the decades-old murder of Brad's grandfather, Dewey Webb. Dewey was a Denver-based private detective who died mysteriously in 1955, and although Reed is intrigued, he doesn't see much promise in solving the case. After all, the police didn't find Dewey's killer at the time, and 70 years have passed, leaving a cold trail. However, Reed accepts the case, and as he is drawn back into both the underworld and the elite society of 1950s Denver.

Keri Merritt desperately needs her long-overdue vacation, preferably as far as she can get from anyone with a badge. It’s not that she doesn’t respect those modern knights, but between her job as a trauma nurse and her overprotective law enforcement family, she’s overrun. When she finds something in the back of her truck she definitely didn’t pack, all hope of a peaceful break from reality burns away in the heat of a dark, fevered gaze. Behind those chocolate eyes lies everything she wants to avoid.