Dead Erratics

With the holidays just around the corner, the last thing Sheriff Karen Okerlund Mehaffey wants under her tree is a murder investigation. So when she and her detective-uncle Marek Okerlund discover two bodies-one freshly dead and one a skeleton-in an abandoned insane asylum in Eda County, South Dakota, she hopes both were natural deaths.

The recent victim, a past administrator at the state mental hospital, had as many detractors as he held credentials-a man not even his psychoanalyst mother could love. The hundred-year-old female skeleton, on the other hand, may have ties to one of the most beloved families in the county-the very same who built the asylum and are now trying to reopen it as a community mental health center for struggling rural families.

If that wasn't enough, Karen gets blindsided when a relative suddenly exhibits signs of psychosis, throwing all her beliefs about mental illness into chaos.

Ultimately, unraveling the history and stigma of mental illness may be the only way out and back into the season of hope.

DEAD ERRATICS is a character-driven police procedural. Thirteenth in series. Word Count: 101,000. Occasional profanity. Minimal gore.