Caught Dead in Wyoming

TV journalist Elizabeth “E.M.” Danniher will tell you she committed two sins — she didn’t stay young, and she made an enemy of a powerful news executive — her ex. She used to break national news. Now her top story as the “Helping Out!” reporter at dinky KWMT-TV in Sherman, Wyoming is getting a defective toaster repaired.

Soon she’s in a battle of wills with ex-football player turned journalist Mike Paycik. Does he see her as a handy rung on his career ladder, a potential partner in fighting crime, or something more? And there’s the matter of a deputy sheriff – missing or murdered? Elizabeth finds herself investigating at the insistence of a little girl doesn’t so much ask for help as demand Elizabeth proves her father’s innocence. Not that enigmatic rancher Thomas Burrell makes investigating easy.

She, Mike, and more colleagues heat up this cold case fast, learning Cottonwood County’s secrets.

Tough, funny, and determined, Elizabeth wrestles with isolation, keeping a professional edge, an evolving self-image . . . oh,, yes, and a rental unaffectionately known as the Hovel and a standoffish stray dog. Is Wyoming — the land of cattle, cowboys, tumbleweeds, and fewer than six people per square mile — her new home or a road to permanent obscurity?

Elizabeth won’t fade to black without a fight, no matter how final some might want to make her Sign Off.