The Stegner Killer

The Stegner Killer is Jim's distinctively original fly, which is made with orange baling twine. People notice it on his cap and fishing vest, and he is proud of its creation. After Dell's murder, one of them is found at the scene of the crime. As a symbol, its name is representatively ironic: it is a killer of fish and its creator is a killer of men.

Horses

Jim's attempt to save an abused mare is the precipitating event of the novel, which leads to Jim's first fight and subsequent murder of Dellwood Siminoe. She is an innocent victim, which Detective Hinchman for one equates to the innocence of Jim's murdered daughter Alce. While animal abuse is certainly a horrible crime, Jim's leap to murdering Dellwood in the creek in the middle of the night would appear rather extreme unless one connects the crime...