The Skeleton Box by Bryan Gruley

Things are not going well for the people of Starvation Lake, Michigan. Businesses have shut down, the hockey team is having an iffy season, and it's winter. Then someone starts breaking into houses while the inhabitants are off playing bingo. Since nothing appears to be stolen, it's more puzzling than alarming--until Phyllis Bontrager turns up dead in the home of Bea Carpenter, mother of Gus, the editor of the failing local newspaper. So begins the engrossing Skeleton Box by Byran Gruley--the sequel to his equally engrossing The Hanging Tree. When Gus tries to track down what happened to beloved Mrs. B, he opens up a whole can of worms involving a dead nun, the Catholic church, smarmy lawyers, coverups, greed and betrayal. When I mentioned this book to a friend, she said, "Oh, it's a murder mystery." Well, you do wonder what happened to Mrs. B--and the long-dead nun. But you also wonder if the hockey team will win the big game. And whether Gus will be able to keep his struggling newspaper afloat. And whether Gus and his true love Darlene will ever find their way back to each other. So yes, it is a murder mystery but so much more.