The Carolina Connection — Lee Mims

Boo Overton is known as an oddball, a real loner in the town of Smithfield, North Carolina. They say she obsesses over germs, never uses makeup, and thinks an old John Deere cap is enough to tame her unruly curls. The locals hardly ever saw her in town until her husband was killed in a work accident and overnight she became a young widow in need of an income.

She boldly decides to risk the little capital she has left to turn his farm into a grass-fed beef operation--never mind that she doesn't know beans about cattle. Her plan to hire a well-known Argentinian horse trainer to handle the cow horses she has yet to buy takes a dark turn when he's found dead at the prosperous Lost Acres Farm.

Undeterred, she forges on, finding an unexpected friend in Detective Felix Truly, an Iraq veteran with demons of his own. He's moved back to his hometown to investigate a string of murders that may be related to gangs, and a strange tattoo. He warns Boo to stay out of amateur sleuthing, but Boo is stubbornly determined to right wrongs and get over her fears. Their paths keep crossing as each uncovers the separate, often grisly components of what will become the Carolina Connection.