Dirt

By 10 p.m., well into a double shift of distributing faxes, making meal runs in the Miami heat and retyping press releases, newsroom intern Madeleine Harrington felt herself dragging. She hadn't recovered from finals, a week and a half before. The tail end of a cold and cough nagged. Her green eyes red, her frizzy, brown hair straggling across her forehead, sneakers dangling off tired feet, she proceeded robotically through a round of cop calls. The editors wanted to give the regular night police reporter a break after busy weekends on the beat. But nobody wanted the Monday night shift. So, tag: the kid was 'it.' If they kept an eye on her, her inexperience couldn't cause much harm.... Thus begins Dirt: A Novel, the tale of a newspaper intern who teams up with her father, a beleaguered old columnist and uncovers a scheme to reshape Miami for the better-- and government officials' conspiracy to shut the scheme down.