Blanco County, Texas: It's the week before deer hunting season, as close to a statewide holiday you get in Texas, and the locals are getting restless. Red O'Brien and Billy Don Craddock aren't the only good ol' boys out at night spotlighting deer from their pickups, trying to get a jump on the hundreds of hunters that will be out come Saturday. 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 deer 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: the man in the deer suit is a good friend, and the whacked-out whitetail isn't exactly a stranger either. It's the beginning of a mad, frantic weekend in Blanco County, one that will see a few more men shot, an invasion by Colombians with more than hunting on their minds, and damn near the end of Marlin's life. Newcomer Ben Rehder serves it all up with a huge helping of humor in this comic mystery that will firmly establish him as the funniest crime writer in Texas.