Beyond Confusion — Sheila Simonson

The 2008 election is over, and librarian Meg McLean is thrilled that the library levy passed. Despite an economy in free fall, Meg's personal and professional lives are thriving. Tribal Chief Madeline Thomas of the Klalos offers an inherited farmhouse for a branch library -- but Meg's rival and vengeful enemy plans to contest the will. Disasters begin to strike -- the farmhouse is vandalized; the chief's home is firebombed; and when her rival falls to her death, Meg becomes a murder suspect. Meg and her romantic interest, Undersheriff Rob Neill, must confront religious zealotry, bullying, and troubled mother-daughter relationships to penetrate the morass of bad karma and maze of crimes. “In Simonson's taut third Latouche County library mystery librarian Margaret “Meg” McLean has her hands full . . . . Simonson's ambitious plot casts a wide net -- from treating themes of racism and religious intolerance to thwarted love and good old-fashioned greed -- but she pulls it off with a sure hand.” -- Publishers Weekly