Left Hanging — Patricia McLinn

A rodeo producer dead in the bull pen. Accident or Murder?

From the deadly tip of the rodeo queen's tiara to toxic “agricultural byproducts” ground into the arena dust, TV reporter Elizabeth, E.M., Danniher receives a murderous introduction to the world of rodeo.

The exiled big-time TV journalist hasn't yet adjusted to her demotion to KWMT-TV, a tiny station in Sherman, Wyoming, where cattle ranches, cowboys, and the wide open range set the stage for their own unique brand of crime.

This time she's investigating the apparently accidental death--under the hooves of rodeo bulls--of a rodeo producer preparing for the region's biggest event--Sherman's annual Fourth of July Rodeo. When her station's egocentric anchorman bungles the story outrageously, Elizabeth and KWMT-TV colleague Michael Paycik start digging on their own.

Area rancher Thomas Burrell, whose interest in Elizabeth is more than casual, helps out with background on the rodeo and suspects--and there are plenty, because the victim had many enemies. But Tom has loyalties to some suspects as well as to the rodeo, so can he be trusted to help her lasso the truth no matter what?