There in the Swamp Author:Dorothy R. Kliewer Deedra Masefield isn't happy with the assignment her editor at the Daily spokesman newspaper, Clete Bailey, has given her. The assignment-go to Rufus, California-to cover the mysterious disappearance and murder of several women near Percifal Swamp. Deedra had been to Rufus before, two years ago when two women suddenly disappeared. back then, ... more »no bodies were found and no killer identified, but now it has started all over again. The latest victim, a pretty local florist, was just pulled from the icky, slimy, green goo of Percifal Swamp where Clete has kindly rented a small abandoned storefront with a view of the swamp and the surrounding cabins for Deedra to camp out in while she covers the story. Under the pretense of a vacationing author gathering material for a novel, Deedra keeps watch out for a killer she describes as a fiend who very likely is one of her neighbors. Is it the nosy peeping Tom, his frightened wife, the gossipy busy-body, the traveling salesman, the wheelchair-bound woman who hasn't spoken since a car accident two years ago, the former owner of the store Deedra is staying in, the reclusive widower, or the classy couple from the big city? Deedra works undercover with the sheriff, Aaron Blaine, and the local newspaper reporter, Bradley Keetz, to sift the clues to find which seemingly normal, seemingly nice person is the killer who very likely has raped and tortured over a dozen women. When her cover is blown, Deedra is attacked and pushed into the stinking, sucking depths of the smelly swamp. What she finds there as she fights to survive may be the key to finding the killer. There . . . In the Swamp is a nifty mystery with a cast of fascinating characters and a heroine who is tough but soft hearted and a heck of an investigative reporter.« less