12th in Sharon McCone series Since the Gold Rush, California prospectors have siphoned off the waters of isolated Tufa Lake, exposing the fragile, otherworldly mineral formation of the lake basin. Now a local environmental group seeks to block the latest incursion by developers - a massive mining operation funded by TransPacific, a U.S.-Hong Kong interest that seems to be behind a series of break-ins, disappearances, and shady land deals. Into this stark lunar landscape walks San Francisco P.I. Sharon McCone, searching for a missing local eccentric. When the bullet ridden corpse of an investor surfaces in the lake’s silvery water, McCone finds herself on a twisted trail that leads to San Francisco and then back to the eerie desert mesas where a murderer prepares to kill again.