Rural Murder: Another Illinois Love Story

Murder on a remote farm in Schuyler Co., IL will challenge the ability of the new Sheriff to solve it. He asks two colleagues, the Sheriff's of neighboring counties, to help him investigate and to bring the murderer to justice. Characters from previous numbers of this series, such as Martha Jo (now a lawyer's investigator) and Eddie Hawkins, Sheriff Thompson from Lewistown, former Judge Lucius Knowles, and some members of the local underworld soon become part of the story. New characters include venerated doctor Dohner, who makes house calls and charges $5 for any office visit and who serves as the County Coroner, help move the story along.

The three sheriffs focus their efforts on a number of possible killers. The victim's husband, her employer (a local Gentleman's Club manager), her neighbor, and even one of the Sheriff's deputies. Odd clues and contradictory stories make trying to exclude suspects nearly impossible. The whole matter is complicated by the fact that one of the suspects is convinced that another one is guilty and he sets out to take personal revenge, an impulse putting many other people in harm's way.

Knowles uses his contacts from the past to enlist help from a Chicago office of a Federal Agency. An undercover agent, ' Dorothy T. from Tennessee', gets a pole and lap dancing job at the Gent's Club and gathers valuable information. Martha Jo button holes dozens of truck drivers in the Club parking lot to try to get leads. Eddie uses his technical skills to help detail the activities of those in the Club who might be running drugs and women from St. Louis.

Finally, the killer is revealed, and taking hostages, the killer fleas back into the Devil's Ridge area of the county, hoping to outrun the packs of lawmen hunting for them.

As usual in my stories, some live, some die, and all play their parts in the continuing drama of Forgottonia, the native's name for Western Illinois.