Stephen Kings The Gunslinger meets Breaking Bad in Laura Bickles novel Dark Alchemy.Some secrets are better left buried Geologist Petra Dee arrives in Wyoming seeking clues to her fathers disappearance years ago. What she finds instead is Temperance, a dying western town with a gold rush past and a meth-infested present. But under the dust and quiet, an old power is shifting. When bodies start turning updesiccated and twisted skeletons that Petra cant scientifically explainher investigations land her in the middle of a covert war between the towns most powerful interests. Petras father wasnt the only one searching for the alchemical secrets of Temperance, and those still looking are now ready to kill. Armed with nothing but shaky alliances, a pair of antique guns, and a relic she doesnt understand, the only thing Petra knows for sure is that she and her coyote sidekick are going to have to move fastor die next.