Murder Adjacent

Quirky Sleuths. Big Murders. Very Bad Alibis. Retired school secretary Mabel Quince remembers every emergency contact, custody note, late pickup, permission slip, and suspiciously temporary address in Port Bellwether history. So when school board candidate Darren Pruitt is found dead in the records closet during a retirement-and-reunion fundraiser, everyone else sees current politics. Mabel sees an old student file that does not match the story Darren built his campaign on. The sheriff wants procedure. Deputy Carrow wants Mabel to stop touching boxes. But Mabel knows one thing for certain: adults lie badly under fluorescent lights, and old school paperwork never forgets.