Lou Springer, a veteran Homicide Detective with twenty years on the job, retired with the hope of finding a new life and well-earned peace and quiet. Little did she realize that life had other plans for her. In less than one week of returning to the small town where she grew up, found herself immersed in a series of incredibly brutal murders involving mysterious people and groups of powerful players. all hiding in the shadows. Follow Lou as she stumbles headlong into mysterious cases of murder and mayhem, a place where even most law enforcement agencies are unwilling or unable to go.
Scream of a Butterfly is the first novel in the suspenseful series, Lou Springer. Set in the present day and immersed in incredibly violent murders, mysterious people and groups, and an unknown conspiracy involving powerful players hiding in the shadows.
Lou Springer, a soon to be retiring detective, decides to return to her roots, a small town of her youth in the wide-open ranges of Southern Idaho. All too quickly she was drawn into a dark conspiracy involving young Native American girls who have been tortured and viciously murdered.
Lou, an avid sportsperson, was fly fishing along the banks of the 1000-mile-long Snake River and stumbles onto a completely unexpected find, quickly propelling her into the deepest and darkest shadows. Lou teams up with an unlikely cast of characters, all joining forces, fighting against time, knowing full well that terror could strike in their own backyard at any moment, hitting their very own hearts.
An ever-increasing number of possible suspects complicates matters and Lou discovers this small town has big city problems she had never imagined; drugs, gangs, corruption, powerful and shadowy players, and controlling religious leaders. Sorting, the good from the bad, proves to be increasingly difficult. Subtle clues arise, uncovering the truth from intentional misdirection is seemingly impossible. Solving the final puzzle seems impossible, remaining just out of reach.
As the race to solve the crimes intensifies, events begin cascading upon each other and suspects run to the cracks in hiding. Innocent matters not, the savagery of life moves through all lives of this backwards part of the world, waiting for the heroes to take come forward or endure tragic losses.
Excerpt
Scream of a Butterfly
Reaching the edge of the bank, she slowly waded in, careful not to lose her footing on the slippery river rocks below. Her fishing rod held high, she began the rhythmic toss so many fishermen are attracted to. Fly fishing is a singular sport not commonly done in groups. The solitude adds to the sport, becoming a form of meditation. After a few casts of her fly rod she still was unable to hit her target on the other side. Behind were trees and underbrush, she had to take care not to get snagged, this limited her casting ability but would not stop her from trying. Her aim was getting better, she managed to land a fly in just the right spot, allowing it to float along with the current. If she had mastered the art, her fly would tempt a fish, lunging out of the water and the fight would be on. She was being ignored, maybe the fish were not in the mood today. Her casts were now accurate, she would try a few more, if there were still no bites she would try a different fly.
She cast to the opposite side again, slightly overshooting the area she intended to hit, slowly pulling her line back, as not to get tangled, suddenly she could no longer pull, and the tip of the rod bent down from the pressure of a snagged line, if she was not careful, it would probably snap the line, losing several feet of fishing line and one of her new flies. Walking backwards with his fishing pole pointed towards the snag was the best method for freeing a hook without breaking the line. She felt a slight movement on the line and continued to walk backwards, whatever she had hooked was now coming free, perhaps it was an old waterlogged piece of wood, these float just below the water line. Suddenly the object broke free, now moving with the strong river current, carrying it down the stream. She had to keep pressure on the line as she tried to bring it closer, she was forced to walk downstream to avoid snapping her line, whatever she had hooked was big and heavy.