John Sandford

Years ago, Lucas Davenport almost died at the hands of Clara Rinker, a pleasant, soft-spoken, low-key Southerner, and the best hitwoman in the business. Now retired and living in Mexico, she nearly dies herself when a sniper kills her boyfriend, the son of a local druglord, and while the boy's father vows vengeance, Rinker knows something he doesn't: The boy wasn't the target-she was-and now she is going to have to disappear to find the killer herself....

A young Dakota Indian boy describes the changes that come both in nature and in the life of his people with each new moon of the Sioux year.

When the cat runs under the chair, over the game, and on the table, the cat is bad, but when it is chasing a mouse, it is good.

An old rocking chair is recycled through a neighborhood, broken down bit by bit as young and old find various uses for it, until it ends up as a tiny footstool in the hands of the original owner.