Secret Sleuth

Sheila Mackey’s dislike for cemeteries can’t fend off her friend Clara’s determination. Amid eerie legends, including a tailgating hearse, the accidental investigator is lured into sorting through deadly questions a century old, revolving around an unidentified victim known as ZigZag Jane.

Who was she? How did she come to be found murdered in the cemetery more than a hundred years ago? Why is the third generation of one family devoting himself to finding the answer?

Nothing follows a straight line in this historic inquiry, including conflict over their sleuthing with Teague O’Donnell, newly hired as a part-time detective in North Bend County, Kentucky. Especially when the past doesn’t stay in the past and the victims multiply.

From the dog park with Sheila’s Gracie and Clara’s Lulu, to the small-town post office, to yoga class, to the historical society, and always back to ZigZag Cemetery (to Sheila’s chagrin), she and Clara negotiate the zigs and zags as mysteries abound in her new Kentucky home.