Former sheriff Cork O'Connor is hired to find a friend's daughter, a country-western singer missing in the wilds of Minnesota. O'Connor discovers FBI agents and a gangster from a casino are also looking for the woman, but they won't say why.

"Paddlers and hikers planning an excursion into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Quetico Provincial Park--that storied region along the Minnesota-Ontario border made up of rock, water, and pine--usually conjure visions of sunny days, pleasant breezes, and starry nights. Though every guidebook advises being prepared, most adventurers escaping to these remote areas assume that all will be well. But even those who are thoroughly prepared--who...

Fifty years ago, Joan Crosby and her husband, Dick, moved from the Minneapolis suburbs to spend the winter on the outskirts of the BWCAW in a primitive one-room cabin without road access or modern conveniences. She baked pies in a Dutch oven while Dick kept the woodpile topped up. They heard the wolves howl and the loons call, watched the seasons change, entertained occasional visitors--invited or not--and made periodic trips across two lakes and...