Asa Baker stares at his typewriter, cursing the empty page. His publishers are clamoring for another Western novel, but Baker is fed up with cowboys. He needs a new kind of hero — and one is about to fall in his lap. His friend Jerry Burke is one of the top cops in El Paso, and he's about to drag Baker into a plot more outrageous — and more dangerous — than anything the Old West has to offer.
A troubling personal ad has appeared in the local paper. Addressed to Burke, it warns that someone will die tonight at 11:41 p.m. And as promised, the body appears at 11:41 sharp — setting Burke and Baker on the hunt for an ingenious serial killer who advertises murder, but never leaves a trail.
