Overtaxed and Underappreciated — Cheryl B. Dale

Okay, so new tax commissioner Corrie Caters accidentally burned the courthouse down. Is that a reason for county officials to cram her property tax/motor vehicle office into a tee-ninesy trailer with barely enough room to sell car plates? Not to mention giving her a cast-off safe that could have starred in a bad Western. Corrie should never have let the know-it-all county officials appoint her tax commissioner. They're peskier than irate taxpayers and whiny auto owners combined. Then a female attorney, running for election against a good ol' boy, is murdered. Corrie happens on the scene, but it's the sheriff's problem. She has her own worries. Like a trip to ER when boxes of tag plates knock her down. Like her new body-pierced employee who scoffs at the dress code. Like her snake-in-the-grass ex-fiance hanging around -- after jilting her in front of two hundred people, most of them local! Yeah. Lots more pressing problems than who killed a woman she barely knew. But there's more Corrie does know. Like where the bear came from that was spotted at the murder scene. Like whose county car was parked near the victim's house. Like why the victim's secretary threatened a business owner. But Corrie doesn't have a clue about the most important thing she knows. Too bad the murderer does.