Spring has sprung in Little Missouri, South Dakota, with a population of ninety-two. Jane and her country school students take a field trip to a nearby dinosaur excavation. A day spent poking around in the dirt turns deadly after Jane finds Beanie Lavender, a former high school friend, barely breathing on the floor of the lab tent. Once Beanie’s off to the hospital, Jane and Sheriff Sternquist begin to investigate, determined to unearth the dig team member who attacked Beanie and left her in a coma. When a freak spring snowstorm hits, the dig team is rescued and brought to Jane’s classroom and apartment. Jane is living cheek to jowl with the person who hurt Beanie. As if that wasn’t enough, crotchety school janitor Velma Albright volunteers to be Jane’s bodyguard. The snow melts, the dig team returns to camp, and Jane and the sheriff get closer to the truth when Beanie’s attacker becomes desperate. Jane digs in her heels and fights to save Beanie’s life and her own before they are both silenced forever.
"Surprise endings and new beginnings will delight readers who dig! into the mystery that has Jane drinking a lot of coffee as the end of her first school year nears. Join paleontologists, students, the sheriff and his deputy force as Jane uncovers real fossils and creates phony ones, encounters local traditions, and engages in a dash of delightful romance. Just when you think you've learned Jane’s recipe for solving the mystery, Philo comes through with clever and intriguing twists that will keep you reading to the end and eager for the next book in the series. Get ready to laugh out loud at the quirky kids and Jane’s clashes with town characters. Once you realize that you might know as much as the switchboard operator, you'll still value Jane’s forensic investigator skills and tenacity, which make her more endearing than ever."
Victoria White, National Speaker, Disability Advocate, and Program Director of With Ministries
Before I became an author, I taught elementary school for 25 years. 7 of those years were spent in northwestern South Dakota. Our first child was born while we lived there, and our experiences with him resulted in 6 books for the special needs community. My fiction series, West River Mysteries, draws heavily on my years as an Iowan who landed in cowboy country, who taught country school, and who was adopted and cared for by the locals in the tiny town where we lived.
