Bug the Dead — Tim Downs

Nick must face the realities of lost opportunities and the passing of time as he struggles to protect a mother and her child from agro-terrorists in this latest novel from award-winning author Tim Downs.

Dr. Nick Polchak is called to a farm community in eastern North Carolina to investigate a murder. The victim is the owner of a failing organic farm who had developed a drug problem, and the police think his murder is drug-related.

Nick finds the remains of a bale of marijuana scattered in the tomato fields--but the South American marijuana seems to be strangely infested with a common North Carolina insect: the tobacco hornworm. To further confound the mystery, the bugs are infected with a fungus from Asia. Nick suspects the man wasn't killed because of the marijuana, but because of the insects it contained.

He then discovers that a vicious agricultural scheme is underway to cripple the U.S.'s corn and ethanol production. But just how far will these terrorists go in their quest?