Prineville author Rick Steber has released his newest non fiction book, Caught in the Crosshairs. True to form Steber delivers a story full of intrigue, deception of justice gone terribly wrong.

On the last day of summer in 1994, while a young cowboy, Phil Brooks, was riding in the hills of Eastern Oregon, he was struck through the heart by a bullet fired from a high-powered rifle. Although an intensive police investigation was launched, nobody has ever stood trial for that murder.

Some locals speculate a woman was involved, or the young cowboy happened upon a drug drop, while others are convinced Phil’s death had something to do with the trophy bull elk that inhabit the sprawling Fopiano Ranch where his body was found by Native American trackers.

In the first chapter, Steber describes in detail the likely scenario that took place when someone carefully flipped off the safety on their rifle taking direct aim made a conscious decision to kill the cowboy, who appeared to be taking a leisurely ride that day on his sisters’ spooky horse.

He spent nearly 17 years researching the intricacies of this. “I’ve tried to make sense of a senseless act of murder,” Steber explains. “And although nobody has ever been arrested there has been a steady stream of information, details facts that add up to a mountain of incriminating circumstantial evidence.”

Steber is well known around these parts for his western pros with engaging, adventurous stories wrapped around an historical chronicle of events unfolding. Rich in variety content, you’ll feel the compelling dramas revealed through the eyes of the characters.

Steber has some thirty titles under his belt more than a million books in print. He is the only Oregon author to have won the prestigious Western Writers of America Spur Award – Best Western Novel is a keen observer of the changing American West.

You can find all of his novels at www.oregoncrosshairs.com.