LOST IN YELLOWSTONE

What’s the connection between a missing person, a severed foot in a sneaker, and a group of troubled kids?

Emmeline Helliwell, a special agent for the National Park Service, is sent to Yellowstone to unravel the mystery of a foot blown out of a geyser in front of a group of tourists. She’d rather be anywhere else, having left Yellowstone three years earlier, when she was unable to close a missing persons case, abandoning her boyfriend, fellow park ranger Holden Thrush, with no explanation. Although the coroner’s report shows the foot belonged to a malnourished teenager, no one has reported a teen missing from the vicinity. Emme gets a clue from a sharp-eyed tourist who noticed something red when the foot flew her way. Awkwardly, the only person available to help Emme with the investigation is Holden. At the geyser, they spot something red, and both get burned recovering it—but it turns out to be a useful clue: a red pocketknife. They manage to connect it to Higher Purpose, a wilderness school for troubled teens. Despite its fancy promotional video, the school is a dump, and by checking permits and interviewing the handyman, Emme and Holden learn that a group from the school is in Yellowstone right now and another was there a few months ago. Locating the area of the park the Higher Purpose group set off from, they follow the students’ trail on horseback until they come upon three woefully unprepared teens who’d been kicked out of the main group after having been taken from their homes (with their parents’ permission), then mistreated and starved. Clearly, the school is worse than Emme could have imagined. But are its owners killing their students?

Stunning scenery and romantic tensions combine in a ripped-from-the-headlines mystery.