The Devil's Hatband - Tapa dura

CJ Floyd slides through the neon Denver night in his pride and joy - a two-toned '57 Bel Air with John Lee Hooker on the tape player and the cool air rushing through the open window. CJ smokes cheroots, wears a straw Stetson and a black leather gambler's vest. CJ is no gambler. He's a hardworking bail bondsman and sometimes bounty hunter, and he always plays the odds.
When two well-appointed black men come to CJ's office across the street from the Denver County Jail, CJ listens to their pitch, takes their offer, and prepares for the worst. A young woman, the daughter of a federal judge, is mixed up with a gang of radical environmentalists, and a Boston company is anxious to get the girl - and some secret documents - back. Leaving Denver for the snow-covered mountains, CJ knows there's another side to this story. And when the girl turns up dead, he finds it.
In a land of big vistas and a frigid blue sky, a battle between landowners and environmentalists has already turned deadly. And the stakes are higher than anyone knows because an extraordinary scientific discovery has fallen into the wrong hands. A madman is armed with a microscopic killer that can wipe out a way of life - and anyone who gets in the way.
From the streets of Denver's Five Points community, where the smell of soul food wafts through the air and proud business people fight for their survival, to the old-time ranchers who have sown the land with their sweat and blood, CJ Floyd moves between disparate worlds in his own search for the truth.

Robert O. Greer is a Professor of Pathology, Medicine, Surgery, and Dentistry at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.