Sheriff Jules Clement returns for a 1990s summer near the Crazy Mountains of Montana. GOING LOCAL contains the town’s Fourth of July, including a rodeo that attracts money in the form of competitors and tourists. First, something occurs that might scare everyone away for the summer.

Murders in this unusual crime series tend to be brutal and permanent. No near misses, no second chances. Two bodies are found in the reservoir near Blue Deer, and they are very finally dead. One of them was a man working on the development of a new mountain land resort, combining luxury cabins with nature preservation. And maybe a little mining. Otto Scobey, an attorney, was also a partner in the plan. When the sheriff investigates, he learns that several seeming mishaps have slowed down work; a landslip, for instance.

The other partners are film director Hugh Lesy and Otto’s ex-wife, Sylvia Coburg, who seems unconcerned that Otto was killed alongside his new girlfriend, Bonnie Siskowitz, a bookkeeper. Everett Parsons, a lobbyist on behalf of the development who grew up in Blue Deer, returns for the funeral, and his behaviour becomes increasingly strange. But then, strange is relative. The town police bulletin contains tales of stop signs getting shot, loose animals, and trucks tipping over. At the same time, a woman has a scary experience at a campsite, and fireworks prove dangerous.

The Edge of the Crazies was the first book in this Sheriff Jules Clement series, and just as we saw in that adventure, the overworked, career-changing law officer tends to drink, and then go to bed with women who are clearly not a good prospect for romance, not to mention being potentially involved as witnesses. Hangovers start his days. I don’t know how he doesn’t get an official reprimand, but maybe the difficulty of finding anyone to be sheriff in a tiny windblown town keeps him in a job.

Author Jamie Harrison is female, and we’ve previously seen series about women detectives written by men, so it’s interesting to see how a woman thinks a man’s mind and life function. If Jules Clement decides to look for a reliable and charming lady, like Alice who is married to Peter Johansen the reporter, at this rate, no respectable woman would want to be with him. I’ll be interested in continuing the character-filled books after GOING LOCAL when I hope less harm will come to animals. No point in hoping that way for the people.