Down Don't Bother Me (Slim in Little Egypt Mystery)

In the depths of the Knight Hawk one of the last working collieries in downstate Illinois, the body of a reporter is found, his mini-recorder tied around his neck and a notepad stuffed in his mouth.

The Knight Hawk's owner, Matthew Luster, isn't happy. He wants answers - and he doesn't want the cops or any more press poking into his business. To protect himself and the operation, he turns to Slim, a mine employee with a reputation for "bloodhounding" - finding lost souls when the police can't or won't. Luster needs slim to locate a missing photographer named Beckett, a close associate of the victim . . . and who just happens to be his son-in-law.

A hardworking single father barely making ends meet, Slim accepts the job - after Luster offers him a guaranteed pension and job security for life. But when you make a deal with the devil, you're going to get burned . . . and now Slim is all too close to the flames. Circumstances have led him into the grimy underworld of Little Egypt, Illinois - a Babel's Tower of rednecks, rubes, freaks, tweakers, gun nuts, and aging hippies - and it quickly becomes clear that he's much more involved in the murder than an innocent man should be.