New York: Viking, (2000) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - This highly acclaimed Southern writer's seventh novel, and his first mystery novel. "Ray Tatum and his dog, Monroe, are on a journey to Hogarth, a small town in Virginia. Ray is taking the job of deputy sheriff in this small town, known for nothing except its proximity to the Appalachian Trail. . . However, Ray has no sooner settled into this bucolic existence when hikers on the A.P., as it is known, discover a skeleton of a man that has been just off the main trail for some time. Ray will have to solve this gruesome murder with help from a group of rusty law enforcement officers and a park ranger with the unlikely name of Kit Carson, a black woman. In a parallel story, Paul Tatum, Ray's cousin, an insurance actuary from Roanoke, is called by the police and asked to come to New York City to identify a body believed to be that of his son. . . Ray and Paul Tatum are very different men, both caught up in worlds they hardly understand. Pearson's writing, funny and taut, will make it difficult for any reader to put down the story of these likable men." (Otto Penzler) SIGNED on the title page. 243 pp. ISBN: 0-670892696.