Windswept: A Digger Doyle Mystery

Twenty-five years is a long time to keep a secret. But telling the truth can be deadly.

WINDSWEPT, the third in the Digger Doyle series, finds the intrepid reporter-turned-detective, Elizabeth "Digger" Doyle reporting for a feisty little online newspaper. Digger brings her fierce energy and dedication to the struggling publication as she grapples with backdoor politics and the powerful oil and gas industry. Digger is one of several journalists who travel to a remote wind farm in eastern New Mexico for a press conference called by State Representative Carmen Lawlor. The controversial politician has made powerful enemies with her push to ban new oil drilling. Instead of hearing a speech from Lawlor, her body splayed out dead at the base of a wind turbine. Did she fall? Jump? Or was she pushed? That's the question veteran radio reporter Nancy Harford asks Digger at the scene.

Back in Albuquerque, Nancy contacts Digger privately to suggest Digger look into Lawlor's links to a cold case. Nancy says the late state representative was with high-school friends in the notorious Malipais volcanic wilderness when one of the friends,18-year-old Julie Mondragon, disappeared. Her body was never found. Nancy tells Digger to track down the friends and ask them why Carmen is dead. Uncertain whether to trust Nancy, Digger contacts reporter colleague Manny Begay to help her investigate. Begay writes a story mentioning Lawlor's connection to the cold case. He and Digger arrange to meet Nancy to ask more questions but they find the old reporter dead of an apparent overdose. Now convinced Lawlor's death is linked to Mondragon's disappearance, Digger delves into the past and learns another of the friends who were with the missing teen on the fateful afternoon, has since died in mysterious circumstances.

Digger is also increasingly worried for the safety of her wife, State Representative Maria Ortiz. Lawlor was Maria's mentor at the legislature in Santa Fe. Devastated by Lawlor's death, Maria vows to continue the dead woman's crusade against new oil and gas drilling. Digger suspects the same forces that tried to defeat Lawlor in the "rat's nest" of Santa Fe politics will target Maria. She has already faced threats from a former political rival, Danny Murphy, who is still furious he lost the election to her. Murphy teams up with a lobbyist who represents oil and gas interests and issues a public challenge. Will Lawlor's past harm Maria?

The answers still lie in the sinister black volcanic wasteland of the Malpais.