If it bleeds, it leads. Poised to win her first contested election in Eda County, South Dakota, Sheriff Karen Mehaffey is broadsided by bad news. Not only does a hooligan deface a turbine in the county's new wind farm, but Alyson Linderman, daughter of a Twin Cities media mogul, is found dead on the launch day of an electronics recycling center. Is it eco-terrorism in reverse or something more insidious? Branded as a bumbling pair of misfits, Karen and her detective-uncle, Marek Okerlund, must solve the high profile murder under a media microscope - or they'll both lose their jobs.DEAD NEWS is a character-driven police procedural of a rural bent. Fifth in series. Word 91,000. Occasional profanity. Minimal gore.