When Will the Dead Lady Sing? — Patricia Sprinkle

Hopemore, Georgia, county magistrate MacLaren Yarbrough is experiencing some of the weirdest weeks of her life, weighing the cons and more cons of a strange animal in her yard, the return of an old boyfriend, and of course, murder....

Folks in Hopemore don't expect to find a buffalo grazing on the front lawn. But that's exactly what MacLaren discovers early one autumn morning. The buffalo turns out to be the campaign mascot for gubernatorial candidate Lance Bullock--the son of a man Mac has never expected, or wanted, to see again. He is a part of her life she would prefer to keep hidden...especially from her husband.

But when a local vagrant is found dead and all signs point to her ex-boyfriend, Mac is caught in a murder investigation that puts her right in the spotlight. Now she's in serious danger of losing her sanity--not to mention her husband....