The Disappeared by CJ Box

Life is in a state of turmoil for Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett. The old governor has left and his replacement is not making Joe feel too secure about his future employment. Then a high-profile British businesswoman disappears after leaving the fancy dude ranch where she was vacationing. The new governor orders Joe to find her. Joe discovers that the game warden in that district has abruptly left his job (and no one knows why). The investigative team that was working on the case was abruptly pulled off the case and no one is talking. And Joe seems to have been set up to fail. But he is determined to find the missing Englishwoman. At the same time, his best friend Nate, a falconer (among other things), wants Joe's help with a problem that is taking place in the same area as the fancy dude ranch, so he tags along. What could go wrong? Pretty much everything.

The story ends on a cliffhanger about Joe's future. I can't wait to see what happens next.

What I particularly love about this series, aside from the characters of Joe, his wife Marybeth, and Nate, are the descriptions of Wyoming. When Box describes Joe driving along a mostly deserted highway during a snow storm, the description is so vivid that it makes me nervous because I hate driving in snow.