MURDER CREEK, the third and final book in the FIREDAMP series set in the coal-mining region of Eastern Kentucky during 1930, finds Deputy Sam Garrett again in search of his prodigal brother "Tick" (Billy Wade) while at the same time wrestling with his conscience over allowing Jack Grimes (of the sequel, HUNTER'S MOON) to escape responsibility for the shooting death of his father, the outlaw moonshiner Dewey Grimes.Sam prepares to take the place of his mentor, I.D. Atkins, as the duly elected sheriff of Bell County, but first he revisits his decision to foist foster care of Dewey Grimes' remaining family onto Aunt Pauline and Mammy Elliott. In the process of retracing his steps, Sam visits his cousin me-Curt, who advises him to drop the case against Jack. Then he re-crosses the swinging bridge to Stoney Fork, where he also receives an enigmatic warning from Mammy about trying to chase down the shooter. As if the newly elected sheriff doesn't have enough on his plate as he tries to settle into the Sheriff's Office at the courthouse in Pineville, yet another unexpected call from Special Agent L.C. Schilder of the federal Bureau of Investigation in Cincinnati sends him into the unfamiliar and dangerous territory of Harlan County to look for his brother. Here the escalating conflict between the Pioneer mining company and the miners' union threatens to catch the new sheriff in the crosshairs of the hostilities.