Last One Down (Avalon Mystery)

Last One Down (Avalon Mystery) by Lavene, Jim. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780803496989.

Reluctantly, Sheriff Sharyn Howard has been forced to attend a training school for the local law enforcement officers. For years shes managed to skirt around it, but now its time for her to take a helicopter up to Sweet Potato Mountain to attend a rigorous weekend of training at the grounds of an old mining town. The town, long abandoned by miners, is complete with an old jail and hotel. After attending just a few classes things start to go wrong. An officer goes missing, and while searching for him one of Sheriff Howards men falls into an old mine breaking his leg. Things go from bad to worse when a truck explodes killing the man inside. To top things off, the radio has been broken and there is a ferocious storm brewing. Stuck in the old town with a group of hotheaded officers, sheriffs, police chiefs, and deputies, Sharyn quickly realizes the person attempting to hunt them down must be hiding among them. Unable to reach her office with cell phones or radios, and with the road impassable, Sharyn is worried that they may all be killed before anyone in Diamond Springs is even aware something is wrong. Meanwhile, back in Diamond Springs, a sniper has taken a shot at Sharyns deputy, Ernie, and the former girlfriend of a drug dealer Ernie shot years ago has been found dead. Ernie and Nick Thomopolis, Sharyns boyfriend and the medical examiner, try desperately to solve the mystery without bothering Sharyn, but get suspicious when she doesnt check in. Not once. With the help of Zeke Two-Rivers, nephew of Sharyns long time friend Jefferson Two-Rivers, they strive to catch the killer and get off the mountain alive, all while Ernie, Nick, and the entire Diamond Springs sheriffs department desperately attempt to save them.