Counter Measures

In COUNTER MEASURES, the ninth outing for West's 'Reporting is Murder'(c) series, sleuthing journalist Gracie Barufaldi is up against a vengeful, manipulative killer with only her wits, and those of a child genius, to help solve the mystery. Complicating the situation is that we find our heroine injured: a sprained ankle sustained during a Morris Dance practice means Gracie must cope with what for her is unusual pain and impairment, although her mind (frustratingly for her, at times) is as quick as ever. A murder without an apparent motive is the puzzle that Gracie, along with on again off again boyfriend Jack Draper-the County Detective-must solve to bring peace back to their rural corner of Western Massachusetts. But all crimes have reasons behind them, and Jack and Gracie search each of the most likely, as well as the supremely unlikely possibilities to try and uncover a solution. Clues go nowhere, leads fizzle out, and then Gracie, almost in exasperation, conceives of a wildly improbable scenario that could provide a motive for the murder, and runs with it. She runs, however, smack into danger, and is saved by her wits, her calm, and her courage, as well as by steadfast, fearless Woof, the wolf-dog she and Jack rescued from a puppy mill. COUNTER MEASURES is rife with the richness of current events, and takes readers on a fast-paced, multi-faceted trip to the mind of an insane killer, and back again.