The Alpine Fury (An Emma Lord Mystery)

Emma Lord, owner and publisher of The Alpine Advocate is wondering what is going on over at the bank.The Bank Of Alpine, a small town family owned bank seems to be having some problem. Marv Peteren, bank president seems distracted and some of their customers aren't getting the proper service they're used to receiving.CD's are missing when a customer attempts to cash theirs in, and checks aren't being mailed out for the customers who are using the bill paying services at the bank. And things aren't helped when on an outing with her grandson, Vida Runkel, The Advocates, House and Home editor, stumbles across the body of Marv's daughter, Linda Lindhal, the bank bookkeeper, hidden in a hollow log in the forest. Vida is more upset that finding the body may have done great harm to her sensitve "nightmare brat" of a grandson, and is determined to help Emma find the killer. Local sheriff, Milo Dodge seems to think that's his job and try as he might, he can't get Emma to stop investigating, which leads her to almost being killed when she comes face to face with the murderer.Highlights:Emma's phone conversations with her Catholic Priest brother, Ben and her college son, Adam. Adam's currently in Arizona, going to school, having already been to Universities in Hawaii and Alaska. I think he's working his way backwards through the states, from the 50th, 49th & now in the 48th. Ben is very funny and reminds me of a priest I used to know.Emma's employee's are becoming more and more involved in the storylines and they're all a hoot. Vida is involved, the most, but now office manager, Ginny Burmeister and Carla Steinmetz, who has a journalistic degree, but can't seem to spell anything correctly. Darla Pluckett is probably still upset over the misspelling of her name. (Read Alpine Escape).Both ladies are upset as Ginny's boyfriend Rick is stepping out with the Marv Petersen's granddaughter. Rick works at the bank and Ginny thinks he's looking to advance his career by going out with his boss's granddaughter. Carla keeps coming up with the stupidest idea's as to how she should kill herself after the tragic breakup with Dr. Flake, (His name fits him perfectly).Emma's former ad manager, Ed Bronsky, who was left millions from an aunt who considered him to be the happiest and sunniest person in her family. Obviously this woman was crazy. Ed, who tried to talk everyone out of taking an ad in the paper is now on the town commission and is coming up with idea's as to how to make money and bring in more jobs. One of his brilliant idea's is to have a contest to see who can solve the murder of Linda Lindhal first. Which is even worse than his idea to force all the town's merchants to put up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving, maybe around Halloween.There is a new ad manager, Leo Fulton Walsh, who Emma met previously (See Alpine Escape). He's recommended for the job by Tom Cavanaugh. He's a drunk, and if he was in a real office, would come close to sexual

Something's going on at the Alpine Bank and nobody seems to know what it is. Newspaper editor Emma Lord suspects that there will be a merger or a buyout, either scenario guaranteed to upset the residents of Alpine, a small Washington town nestled in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. Emma and her friend Vida begin to do some investigating, and suddenly things are complicated by the death of a prominent bank employee. There are several red herrings when, as usual, suspicion is first directed at newcomers and outsiders. Emma succeeds in aggravating the town sheriff, Milo, with her meddling, but eventually the murderer is brought to justice. If you enjoy this book, start at the beginning and work your way through the Alpine series.