If Two of Them Are Dead

Book excerpt: Co-owner of a small Colorado newspaper, reporter Maxey Burnell is taking a well-deserved vacation - her first in years. While visiting her only relatives, Aunt Janet and Cousin Curtis, she makes a startling discovery. Not only is her father still alive, but Janet saw him leaving the scene of Maxey's mother's murder ten years ago. Determined to prove that no father of hers could be a killer, Maxey sets out to clear his name, even though it turns out that he'd rather she didn't. Aided and abetted by Janet's live-in codger, Scotty, Maxey gets to know the small town's residents, including Curtis's good buddy Lance and Lance's not-so-great parents; a soft-water salesman who's hard to like; and a neighbor who wants to help but can't remember the question, let alone the crime. By the time Maxey learns the truth, she may prove the Ben Franklin adage: Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.