Deadly Vintage
The Desert Keeps What Man Was Never Meant to Find
In the high desert of New Mexico, something unnatural has taken root beneath the vines.
Geologist Mark Grayson’s newest contract should’ve been routine—evaluate mineral deposits near a family-owned vineyard. But nothing about Cat’s Claw feels routine. The land is guarded. The records are sealed. And Grayson’s instincts, honed from years of high-risk geological work in conflict zones, are screaming that something’s wrong.
When a local college student is found mutilated in the desert, Deputy Medical Examiner Shannon Hall lands the case. Days later, a second body surfaces on the property, and her investigation crosses paths with Grayson’s survey. What begins as a strange coincidence turns into a shared pursuit of the truth, one that leads them into a cave system behind the vineyard… and something far more dangerous than a simple murder.
Cat’s Claw is clean on paper, its wine exported overseas and its family name protected by deep pockets. But under the surface, something is being grown, tested, trafficked. And it’s not meant for public consumption.
As pressure mounts from law enforcement, foreign buyers, and hired muscle, Grayson and Hall must navigate a web of silence, corruption, and scientific horror buried in the bedrock… before the desert claims them as its own.
Michael McLean
Sabine Berlin
