Where the Dead Sleep

By Joshua Moehling

A small-town Minnesota deputy tries to crack the unsolvable—the murder of a man with more enemies than friends—but as the by-the-book deputy digs, he unearths secrets that will destroy the insulated community—and him along with it

Bill Sandersen, a man with more enemies than friends in Sandy Lake, has finally gotten himself killed—shot in his bed by an intruder on Labor Day weekend. Acting Sheriff Ben Packard soon realizes that there seems to be no end to the list of people who may have had the motive and the means to kill Bill… And soon Packard finds himself tangled in a web of guilt and corruption.

Because this is Sandy Lake, a small Minnesota town where the locals are wary of outsiders. As Packard investigates, he can’t help but feel that everyone in this insulated community knows something he doesn’t. And Packard soon has to confront another form of corruption in town: the dirty cop running for the position of sheriff. The by-the-book deputy realizes he’ll have to run against him, but doing so will bring scrutiny, and there are things about his life that he wants to stay hidden. When the killer strikes again, Packard’s own life is on the line and he knows he’s getting uncomfortably close to the dangerous legacy of Sandy Lake. He can leave town; leave the secrets, the judgement, and the darkness. Or he could stay and try to save what good remains, though it might kill him.