For Darlene Roberts, a quiet drive home from work turned out to be the end of the road when a stranded motorist flagged her down. As soon as she stopped, Darlene was forcibly dragged from her car and viciously thrown to the ground, bound with cords and tightly gagged. A second attacker stepped into the scene, a woman in a hood and a mask.

In the ensiung struggle, the woman's mask slipped off, revealing the face of Darlene's husband's ex-wife, Barbara Ann Roberts. Darlene broke away, running for her life. The couple pursued her across a field until they found her hiding in the grass. A shotgun was aimed and fired point blank. Later, Darlene was found floating in a pond.

Who fired the fatal shot? The bitter ex-wwife? Or her lover and accomplice, millionaire neurosurgeon Dr. Robert Schiess the third? Only one of them would be convicted in this disturbingly twisted tale of lovers, cheaters, and killers in a small Alabama town. BLOOD AMBUSH-SHEILA JOHNSON