I've been enjoying the Angela Richmond Death Investigator series by native St. Louisan Elaine Viets. I had never heard of the job title Death Investigator before, which is not the same as a medical examiner or a coroner. Angela takes an array of photos around the scenes of suspicious deaths, and meticulously notes all the details such as injuries on the body, the physical setting, and much more, delivering all that information to the medical examiner, along with the body.
In this novel, Angela is called to the home of Tom Lockridge, a wealthy man who has apparently been killed by a gang of thieves dubbed the Ghost Burglars, which has been striking the wealthy who live in Choteau County, Missouri. This is the first time they have murdered, though. But Jace, the detective on the case, wonders if Tom's wife has anything to do with his death. Her upbringing was rough, and her new life of luxury apparently has gotten her into drug usage. Plus she seems to have overly close connections to Wesley, Tom's protégé. As Angela and Jace investigate further, other wealthy (as well as not-so-wealthy) people emerge as suspects. Upsetting the wealthy people in the county is putting their jobs in jeopardy, since the police brass usually work for the top 1%. For example, when a wealthy old widow kills a bank teller while driving at highway speeds through the downtown area, she's belligerent when the detective wants to hold her accountable for the death of the teller. Usually when she drives drunk, the police just call her housekeeper to come bring her home. Jace is committed to justice but his superiors are threatening his job unless he finds the murderer of Tom Lockridge within the next week. The stress is on, for both Angela and Jace.
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