Book excerpt: THE ALPINE ADVOCATE SCOOPS A MURDER Emma Lord, the Advocate's editor, finds the body in the facial room of Stella's Styling Salon *anonymous under a mud pack, throat slashed. The victim turns out to be the sister-in-law of Sheriff Dodge's girlfriend, who had initially made the appointment for herself. Perhaps she was the killer's intended target. After all, no one in Alpine really knew the dead woman personally. Then rumors begin to fly, shady strangers turn up in town, and a young woman disappears into thin air. What looks like the story of the year is fast developing, and Emma means to have it *or die trying . . .