Drowning in the Desert: A Nevada Noir Novel

Desert stillness meets the cacophony of Las Vegas.

Norman "Fats" Rangle, an ex-deputy sheriff, operates a horse stabling and excursion business with his brother and sister-in-law on their family ranch in the small rural community of Blue Lake, a few hours outside of Las Vegas. By chance, high on a southern Nevada mountain range, Fats discovers the wreckage of a plane that crashed two years earlier. Although he reports his find to the sheriff, he does not disclose that someone had already been to the crash site--evidence that Fats deliberately destroyed.

Soon, Fats is tracking back and forth between Las Vegas and Blue Lake in a search for a missing cousin, a briefcase full of cash, and, finally, for a killer. Along the way, Fats also begins to understand that he's searching for himself and his place in a rapidly changing West.

Angry and alienated, Fats distrusts everyone he meets, from sleaze-merchants and political power brokers to two women: one he wants to believe in, a retired judge; and the other, a police sergeant, he can't quite believe isn't deceiving him. After all, in this Nevada, corruption is a given. Everybody lies. Much is uncertain--motives, loyalties, affections. But in Drowning in the Desert, one thing is certain: water is a precious resource that can both kill and be killed for.


Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: University of Nevada Press
Published: 08/22/2023
ISBN: 9781647791186
Pages: 224
Weight: 0.60lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.50d