“Vivid and unnerving . . . Eliot Conte is an instant original.” —The Washington Post Someone's shooting dogs in Utica . . . Ex-PI Eliot Conte (“part Mike Hammer and part William S. Burroughs,” according to The Washington Post ) thought he’d escaped the sordid underworld of long-established Mafia networks, unsolved crimes, and the specter of his political kingmaker father that make up the background in his gritty hometown of Utica, New York. He’s returned to his old love, teaching American literature, and a new love, policewoman Catherine Cruz. But the peace doesn’t last long.  First, one of Eliot’s students, a Bosnian Muslim, disappears, leaving a trail of texts and e-mails that suggest a terrorism plot underway. Meanwhile, the tightknit community is disturbed by a series of brutal murders of dogs.  And no matter where he looks, the trail seems to lead back to secrets Conte hoped he’d buried forever.