Murder By the Book

When Wild Horse Lake dries up due to drought, an old 1938 Ford surfaces to present a puzzle to Megan Clark, assistant librarian and unemployed paleopathologist, that she can't resist. When the skeleton of a homicide victim is found buried between the walls of an old laundry on Sixth Street, Megan is sure there is a connection to the old Ford. Excited by the possibility of tracking down the connection, as well as uncovering the murderer, Megan asks her mystery readers discussion group for help. To her surprise the group refuses except for Randal Anderson and his obsessive-compulsive girlfriend, Candi, not Megan's first choices for assistants. The question becomes: what is the rest of the members hiding and why. If the old skeleton and its murderer isn't enough, Megan stumbles over another dead body. Sergeant Schroder doesn't believe the same person could find so many murdered bodies without having something to do with their unfortunate demise. When Megan discovers two more bodies, all obviously killed by the same person, who leaves a message scratched on the forehead of each, Schroder is ready to read Megan her Miranda warning and arrest her. All the murders occur on Sixth Street, all occur the nights the mystery discussion group meets, and all occur when Megan's alibis are shaky. Meanwhile, a resident at a local retirement home is watching Megan's activities closely. The resident doesn't care about a possible serial killer loose on Sixth Street, but is very interested in Megan's involvement with the skeleton. Megan, in the meantime, is disillusioned because it is becoming clear that not only is the serial killer probably a member of the Murder by the Yard Reading Circle, but so is whoever buried the skeleton in the old laundry.