The Substance of Fear: A Sheriff Francis Hood Mystery

A small-town shopkeeper is found bleeding and unconscious. A former police officer goes missing.

Francis Hood, a sheriff in Central Missouri, steps into a quagmire of small-town secrets when he begins to look into these seemingly unrelated cases. He seeks assistance from Sandra Brondel, a crime lab analyst, who suffers from a severe form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. She is aided by the missing man's brother, Brian Rakestraw, who battles his own debilitating social anxiety.

As the investigation unfolds, the threesome form an unlikely alliance, confronting their individual fears while pursuing leads-sometimes together and sometimes at cross-purposes.

When Brian's car is run off the road, and Sandra is found in possession of incriminating evidence, events take a deadly turn. Hood must separate allies from adversaries in his quest to learn the truth.