"Pepin County is in the grip of an icy winter; twenty degrees below zero as the new year rolls in. Deputy Sheriff Claire Watkins is happy. She's been living with Rich Haggard, and as they sit together awaiting midnight, she feels ready to step into the marriage he's wanted all along. But not all marriages last. Car mogul Daniel Walker is celebrating New Year's Eve alone, roasting in his sauna with a bottle of Belvedere vodka by his side. His soon-to-be-ex-wife...

Deputy Sheriff Claire Watkins has had an easy summer in Fort St. Antoine, Wisconsin, the only problem is that her daughter Meg is leaving for college soon. When Claire walks down to the park to watch the Burning Boat, a large replica of a Norwegian longboat set on the shores of Lake Pepin, burned at the autumnal equinox she has no idea that more than just a wooden structure is going up in flames. The next day, the bones of a young woman are found...