Bury the Lead

A murder, an arson, and an outbreak of Ebola - the latest case for Joe Gunther and the VBI team is a deadly and complex puzzle.

When the body of a young woman is found near a trail at a popular ski mountain, the case falls to Joe Gunther and his team at the Vermont Bureau of Investigation (VBI). They quickly have a suspect, Mick Durocher, and a confession, but not everyone on the team is convinced. Despite Mick''s ready admission, investigators sense there might be more to the case than meets the eye.

At the same time, a large local business is targeted with escalating acts of vandalism—a warehouse fire, a vandalized truck, a massive cooling system destroyed—resulting in loss of life. Intriguingly, Mick Durocher, the confessed murderer, was once employed by this very company.

These two puzzling cases—now possibly connected—are further complicated when a key member of VBI, Willy Kunkle, undergoes surgery at a hospital that appears to be having an unlikely—and suspiciously timed—outbreak of Ebola.

As Joe and his team dig deeper, they uncover motives that might link the crimes, realizing that trust betrayed can be a toxic virus, turning love into murderous loathing. With another victim''s life on the line, Joe must unravel a tragic history before it''s too late in this gripping addition to Archer Mayor''s acclaimed Joe Gunther mystery series.