Pepper, the Gunslinger & the Bank Heist

There's nothing like a good bank robbery to ruin a perfectly normal day.

I only went to the Willow Lake Bank to close my Aunt Effie's safety deposit box, and Ian came along because we had plans afterward. Neither of us expected to be ducking for cover when masked robbers stormed in, guns drawn and clearly in a hurry.

This was no smash-and-grab. They weren't interested in the registers or even the vault. Their focus was on the safety deposit boxes, which means they were looking for something very specific.

As if being caught in a bank heist isn't enough, my mom has just become the new mayor of Willow Lake. My dad, Sheriff Madison, is still getting used to the idea that she's technically his boss — and he has opinions about it.

Then there's my brother Josh, strong and stubborn, convinced his relationship with Kate is on the skids — and naturally, he thinks I should figure out why. My best friend Amy is spending far too much time with my other brother, Thomas, and her boyfriend Beau is worried their romance might be headed for trouble. So what does he do? He asks me to talk to Amy about it.

Men.

And just when things couldn't get more interesting, Stone — the FBI agent Ian and I thought we'd seen the last of — is back in town. Ian is not happy about that.

Meanwhile, banks in nearby towns are being hit too, always safety deposit boxes, never anything else. Whatever these robbers are after, they aren't stopping until they find it.

And Ian and I? We're not stopping either. With Mo, my very determined Alaskan Malamute, making sure he's part of the action, we have more than one mystery to solve.

The only question is what could possibly be valuable enough to set all of this in motion?