Death & Politics

The Laurel Highlands seem idyllic, but for Trooper First Class Jim Duncan and Fayette County assistant public defender Sally Castle, they're anything but.

It’s election season. Everyone knows that gubernatorial candidate William Carmichael has a history of infidelity. One of those very public secrets that policitians have. So public, that Carmichael’s wife, Dorene, has returned to their house in Confluence, away from the spotlight of her husband’s philandering. Being the spouse of a cheating state representative is bad enough, but when Carmichael’s bid for the governor’s mansion threatens to put his extra-marital activites front and center, Dorene issues an ultimatum: stop sleeping around or she’s going public with a scandal that would surely bring an end to her husband’s budding career in state politics.

When Dorene turns up in the woods near their house, strangled, Jim Duncan and Sally Castle must find out if it was jealous revenge – or political expediency. Did Carmichael take matters into his own hands, before Dorene’s actions killed his chances? Or did one of Carmichael’s favorite mistresses see the opportunity to step into the role of wife to the governor of Pennsylvania?

In the second installment of THE LAUREL HIGHLANDS MYSTERIES, Duncan and Sally dig into politics at multiple levels: the Allegheny Count District Attorney, Harrisburg, and even the Uniontown barracks of the Pennsylvania State Police, as Duncan’s investigation supports the career ambitions of one of his rivals, “Golden Gary” Sheffield.

Only one thing is certain: politics is a dirty game – and murder is sometimes one of the moves.

“Death and Politices” was previously published at Mystericale.com (January 2014).