Rustwater is the third book in the award-winning Jane Dougherty series, following Atomic Sunset and Two Hours to Bedlam. Atomic Sunset won the 2025 Literary Global Book Award and the 2026 Indies Today Best Humor Award, and Two Hours to Bedlam won the 2026 PenCraft Spring Best Book Award for Fiction-Humor. Welcome to RustwaterPopulation: conspiracy theorists, desert eccentrics, and several people who should have stayed on the highway.Photographer Jane Dougherty is back in Arizona, and this time she's only planning to attend an awards ceremony. No dead bodies. No unexplained phenomena. No getting stranded in the desert.That plan lasts about a day.The town of Rustwater has always been a little strange. The water runs red. Compasses don't behave. An abandoned railroad disappears into the desert. And the members of the Old Spur Society have spent years collecting stories about everything from magnetic chickens to secret government experiments.Then two enthusiastic Swiss tourists arrive looking for proof.When Jane and geologist Clay Harrow agree to guide them into the desert, a simple expedition quickly goes sideways. Supplies disappear. Donkeys bolt in the middle of the night. Compasses refuse to cooperate. And metal objects begin behaving very badly.By morning, people are missing, explanations are scarce, and Jane is beginning to suspect the members of the Old Spur Society may not be quite as crazy as they sound.In Rustwater, conspiracy theories are mostly nonsense.Mostly.Rustwater is a witty, offbeat Route 66 mystery filled with desert adventure, eccentric characters, strange history, and the kind of conspiracy that sounds ridiculous right up until it doesn't. Perfect for readers who enjoy quirky mysteries, dry humor, oddball small towns, unlikely friendships, and smart, laugh-out-loud storytelling.Continue the journey with Jane Dougherty in the third Route 66 mystery from J.G. Macdonald.
