Bodo Hagen thought his family had left Las Vegas for good. He had joined the CIA and moved to Berlin, while his younger brother had followed in their father's footsteps and joined the French Foreign Legion. For a while they were free from the criminal underworld upon which the Vegas Strip was built. But when his Legion contract ended, Bodo's brother returned to Las Vegas. Five days later his body was found on the edge of the desert. Word is that he'd returned from Europe with a valuable-and possibly stolen-ancient relic to sell. Now Bodo must come back and track down that missing artifact-and with it, his brother's killer. A quick-witted, fast-paced novel that shines a sharp new light on Las Vegas, The Ragged End of Nowhere was awwarded the 2008 Tony Hillerman Prize for best debuty mystery set in the American Southwest.

ROY CHANEY has worked as a military journalist, photographer, newspaper editor, and as an investigator for the federal government. He lives in Kansas City, Missouri.