Not in My Backyard — Susan Rogers Cooper

NEIGHBORHOOD BLIGHT

Romance writer, suburban mom, and sometime sleuth E.J. Pugh is certainly not thrilled to have Michael Whitby for a neighbor. A convicted criminal, Whitby served his time in prison and now has moved to the quiet Texas community of Black Cat Ridge, the Pughs' hometown. Despite her fears, E.J. feels the townsfolk's campaign of harassment -- which is affecting the ex-con's innocent family -- is unnecessarily cruel and blatantly unfair. The local citizenry has decided that Whitby must go! And no method is too extreme if it removes him from the vicinity.

But a line is crossed on Halloween night when a dead body is discovered on the Whitby's front lawn. And now a morally outraged E.J. is on the trail of a killer, digging for dangerous secrets that might best be left interred-secrets that might possibly be buried in her own backyard.