N is for noose
(Book)

"A Marian Wood book."

Kinsey Millhone should have done something else - she should have turned the car in the direction of home. Instead, she was about to put herself int he gravest jeopardy of her career. Tom Newquist had been a detective in the Nota Lake sheriff's office - a tough, honest cop respected by everyone. When he died suddenly, the townfolk were saddened but not surprised: Just shy of sixty-five, Newquist worked too hard, smoked too much, and exercised too little. That plus an appetit for junk food made him a poster boy for American heart Association campaign. Nwquist's widow didn't doubt the coroner's report. But when Selma couldn't accept was not knowing what had so bothered Tom in the last six weeks of his life. What was it that had made him prowl restlessly at night, that had him brooding constantly? Selma Newquist wanted closure, and the only way ishe'd get it was if she found out what it was that had so bedeviled her husband. Kinsey should have dumped the case. It was vague and hopeless, like looking for a needle in a haystack. Instead, she set up shop in Nota Lake, where she found that looking for a needle in a haystack can draw blood. Very likely, her own.