by Sandra Murphy

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of Dead in the Water. We also have a link to order it from Amazon, and from an indie bookstore where a portion goes to help support KRL.

Scumble River is in Illinois, in the path of tornadoes. Usually, they’re not bad, but this year, that’s different. Sky Dennison is married, pregnant, and ready to train a replacement school counselor who can handle things while Skye’s on maternity leave. Everything is going smoothly.

Until a tornado swoops through town, leaving debris, flattened homes, one dead body, and a missing man—Skye’s husband Wally, the town’s police chief. In his hurry to check out a possible problem for the mayor, Skye’s cranky uncle, Wally doesn’t leave word with dispatch about where he’s going. That was a mistake.

With all the downed wires, lack of places to stay, and general mess, the police hardly have time to investigate the body, much less figure out where Wally is. Skye is an official consultant with the department so she has some leeway to investigate.

Skye’s mom is May, a dispatcher for the police department. She’s also overly invested in everything Skye does, especially where the baby is concerned. Skye and Wally don’t want to know the sex of the baby, but May does and she’ll go to great lengths to find out.

The townspeople don’t know it, but Wally’s family is rich. Skye calls his dad for help, and he not only helps her look for Wally but helps the town as well. The guise of Dad’s employer being a generous man is about run its course. Time to ‘fess up and admit, Dad has the money.

At last a ransom demand comes for Wally, along with proof of life, at least for now. It’s a race against time to find Wally, solve a number of minor crimes and one major one, calm May, and tell Wally some surprising news before May spills the beans.

Always an enjoyable series, this is a timely tale considering all the storms and disasters the south and northwest have faced recently. It’s a good mystery and a great example of how people work together when trouble hits a whole town.

To enter to win a copy of Dead in the Water, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “water,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen October 28, 2017. U.S. residents only. If entering via email please include your mailing address, and if via comment please include your email address.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & short stories in our mystery section.

Use this link to purchase the book & a portion goes to help support KRL & indie bookstore Mysterious Galaxy:

Dead in the Water

You can also use this link to purchase the book on Amazon. If you have ad blocker on you may not see the link:

Sandra Murphy lives in the shadow of the Arch in St. Louis Missouri. She writes about eco-friendly topics, pets and wildlife for magazines and reviews mysteries and thrillers for KRL. A collection of her short stories, published by Untreed Reads, From Hay to Eternity: Ten Tales of Crime and Deception can be found at all the usual outlets. Each one is a little weird and all have a twist you won’t see coming.

Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases using those links. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.