Windmills and Witness
(2026)(The fourth book in the Last Range Mystery series)
A novel by Hailey Hartley
When land surveyor Jordan Pierce arrives in Red Bluff, Montana to verify property boundaries for a windmill preservation vote, she expects three days of routine measurements and paperwork. What she doesn't expect is to find local historian Theo Russell dead at the base of the historic structure, his death ruled an accident by everyone except Jordan. With her professional eye for detail and her Rough Collie Sage alerting to disturbed ground and suspicious evidence, Jordan notices what others miss—the safety rails weren't just old, they were deliberately sabotaged. When Jordan uncovers century-old forged property documents that expose millions in fraudulent mineral rights claims, she realizes Theo was murdered to protect a secret worth killing for.
As Jordan digs deeper into Red Bluff's property records and hidden history, threatening notes appear on her doorstep and her survey equipment is destroyed in a clear message to stop asking questions. The windmill preservation debate has divided the town, pitting development money against heritage protection, and Jordan's boundary corrections threaten to invalidate lucrative mining contracts built on fraud. With suspects ranging from desperate developers to wealthy landowners, and Sage finding crucial evidence that human investigators would miss, Jordan races to prove which of her neighbors committed murder before the killer decides one surveyor with too many questions is the next problem that needs solving.
With her childhood friend Maya providing moral support and coffee, and Deputy Claire Patterson quietly helping the investigation, Jordan must navigate small-town politics where everyone protects their own and century-old lies run as deep as Montana bedrock. But Jordan has never been one to accept convenient explanations when the measurements don't add up, and Sage has never been wrong about what's buried beneath the surface. In Red Bluff, some boundaries are drawn in blood, some property lines hide deadly secrets, and some truths are worth dying for—but Jordan Pierce has always believed that honest surveys and justice are worth fighting for, even when that fight puts her own life on the line.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
As Jordan digs deeper into Red Bluff's property records and hidden history, threatening notes appear on her doorstep and her survey equipment is destroyed in a clear message to stop asking questions. The windmill preservation debate has divided the town, pitting development money against heritage protection, and Jordan's boundary corrections threaten to invalidate lucrative mining contracts built on fraud. With suspects ranging from desperate developers to wealthy landowners, and Sage finding crucial evidence that human investigators would miss, Jordan races to prove which of her neighbors committed murder before the killer decides one surveyor with too many questions is the next problem that needs solving.
With her childhood friend Maya providing moral support and coffee, and Deputy Claire Patterson quietly helping the investigation, Jordan must navigate small-town politics where everyone protects their own and century-old lies run as deep as Montana bedrock. But Jordan has never been one to accept convenient explanations when the measurements don't add up, and Sage has never been wrong about what's buried beneath the surface. In Red Bluff, some boundaries are drawn in blood, some property lines hide deadly secrets, and some truths are worth dying for—but Jordan Pierce has always believed that honest surveys and justice are worth fighting for, even when that fight puts her own life on the line.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Used availability for Hailey Hartley's Windmills and Witness