Concept:

Start with an interesting place:

Drinkwater County, the setting for this series of novels, is a fictional place based on a real county that is larger than the state of Massachusetts. There are a dozen such counties scattered across the American West. Sheriffs who work in these large, underpopulated areas have all the problems that other law enforcement officials deal with, plus some problems unique to their jurisdictions such as modern-day cattle rustling, water theft, grave robbing of prehistoric sites, poachers (sometimes with international connections) hunting endangered species to complete their trophy collections, etc. etc. 

Add difficult circumstances:

An even bigger issue is that sheriffs in these areas are elected by locals who often expect that "their sheriff" will take care of them, meaning they will ignore or not enforce locally unpopular federal laws, something that can put the sheriff in legal jeopardy. On the one hand, you risk not get reelected. On the other and you risk going to jail. 

Oh, and these jurisdictions have huge areas to patrol with limited manpower and budgets.

Drop in a determined but conflicted character:

Samantha (Sam) Nielsen grew up in Drinkwater Country. She returned after the death of her husband, and was elected sheriff when the old sheriff of 35 years retired. There are three problems connected to that scenerio. One: the first time the old sheriff was elected, she hadn't even been born. 

Two: she was elected mostly because of her family's reputation. Her grandmother, Maddy, runs the family ranch, and her mother, Xan (short for Alexandra), is the famous western painter who works in the ranch's old barn. Three: Sam never wanted to be the next "Nielsen woman." She left for California, shortly after graduating high school, and never intended to return. But, when she needed a place to raise her eight-year-old daughter, she chose family over LA's faceless crowds and Drinkwater's wide skies and dusty roads over LA's endless freeways. Becoming sheriff just kind of happened. But that doesn't mean she doubts her ability to do the job. Like it or not, she is a "Nielsen woman."

Add interesting plot situations:

In the first novel, Rainbow Horses, a thirty-year old murder comes to light when it looks like someone might use Drinkwater for the setting of a modern western movie. At the same time, Sam's daughter is being stalked by someone who was once in love with Sam. He is obsessed by the daughter because she is more like how he remembers Sam than the sheriff Sam has become.

In the second novel, Spotted Spirit Dog, a birder goes missing. Happens every year. Drinkwater's lakes are part of a major flyway. Thousands of birders arrive in Drinkwater every spring and every fall. Many lack basic wilderness skills, meaning Sam has to call on her volunteer search and rescue team to help find them. But this birder is dead. Her body is discovered miles and miles from where she was last seen. Worse, the body has been moved and the person who moved the body doesn't seem to be the same person who killed her. Things get further complicated when the motive for moving the body is related to water theft and involves the man Sam's grandmother is about to marry.

In the third novel, Green Men and Pink Snails, Sam's grandmother is planning to block Drinkwater's biggest bridge with a bulldozer. It is part of a protest. US Fish and Wildlife officials have denied local ranchers access to one of Drinkwater's main streams in order to protect a rare pink snail. Sam discovers that keeping the citizens of Drinkwater from killing someone is harder than solving a murder. Meanwhile, drugs are being flown into Drinkwater, using a makeshift runway out on one of the remote salt flats, something she would know if she had an airplane to patrol her county like other sheriffs in the region. Airplanes used by local sheriffs working in large counties are subsidized by the US government, but her Big Fish (the one who always gets away), likes to entertain his billionaire friends at his hunting lodge. So he has used his political clout to block her from getting one. He doesn't want her to catch him poaching rare and endangered curly horned sheep, something US Fish and Wildlife should be preventing.

The books are fiction, but keep it real:

As part of my research, I interviewed a woman sheriff in Colorado who is responsible for a large county that is mostly above 8,000 feet. She wears an avalanche beeper seven months of the year. I happened to be there on a Saturday morning. We stood on the courthouse stairs, just outside her office, while she made a broad gesture and said: "Right now, I'm the only law officer on duty for almost a hundred miles in all directions. I have people I can call on, but . . .."

I also flew with a sheriff who patrols his large county by air. During the flight, we happened on some wealthy Japanese poachers hunting endangered big horn sheep. That resulted in a few moments of unexpected excitement. He worried out loud about how low he dared fly over their plane, sitting on the ground. He wanted to read the numbers off the wing. The hunters, who happened to be close by, were waving high-powered guns at us. His concern, was whether or not he should risk putting his passenger, meaning me, in danger. Who says research is boring!

The first novel in this series, Rainbow Horses, is complete. 

Spotted Spirit Dog, is a complete first draft. 

The next three novels, Green Men and Pink Snails, A Ghost of Dinosaur Bones and Walk Soft But Not Quiet are outlined.

I'm gathering research for Crow Gathers and Wolverine Doubles Back.

Each novel stands alone and contains a mystery or a murder that is solved. However, the series also includes two on-going subplots. One is a love interest. The second involves the wealthy and politically powerful individual that the sheriff never quite nabs. He is her Big Fish (the one that always gets away). I haven't decided yet whether or not she will land her Big Fish in the last novel.

Check SAMPLE PAGES tab for opening pages of 

RAINBOW HORSES