The Long Night of Winchell Dear by Robert James Waller

"Winchell Dear is a professional poker player. Without cheating at cards (though he knows all the tricks), he has amassed enough wealth to live a good life on his ranch in Texas high desert country. Unbeknown to him, his housekeeper, Sonia, is an intermediary in a drug-smuggling scheme out of Mexico. One night while Winchell plays the fiddle and recalls the particulars of his past, a shipment of drugs arrives at Sonia's nearby cabin; Winchell's intuitions awake to the possibility of evil. Also sensing danger is Peter Long Grass, a recluse living primitively in far regions of Winchell's ranch. And barreling toward the ranch are a professional killer and his driver from Los Angeles. Waller successfully manages the intersecting arcs of these colorful characters as suspense builds. Displaying far different appeal factors than TheBridges of Madison County, his latest novel is a rugged Texas tale well told." ~ from Library Journal Review