Book excerpt: Dust covered everything. It hadn't rained in a month, and when people talked, the first topic discussed was the heat and drought. Under the shade tree in the backyard, the little boy was contentedly filling his toy dump truck with sand. He felt himself being lifted and smiled in anticipation of seeing his mom, but it wasn't her. When two-year-old Karl Bookman disappears from his own backyard in the small town of Snyder, Mississippi, everyone is mystified as to why someone would kidnap a child from a family that has no money or influence. Sheriff Troy Landers and two investigators with the FBI beat the bushes in Mississippi and Tennessee relentlessly, searching for the boy. The trail stretches from a stately sugar plantation in Brazil to a mansion in Memphis. Then the town is devastated to learn that the child's father, whom they had known all of his life, is involved. Sheriff Landers, still dealing with the death of his own wife and daughter from many years ago, lets his heart as well as his mind get involved with the case. As the case unfolds, he is amazed at the heartless actions of the people involved in the kidnapping, but when the full truth is finally revealed to the community, their Blood Runs Cold.