This is the seventh book in M.K. Coker’s series about South Dakota Sheriff Karen Mehaffey and her Uncle and Chief Detective Marek Okerlund. There’s a lot of background to the characters, and I would not recommend starting the series here. However, if you’ve been following the story all along, this is a great addition.

In the previous book, Dead Hot, Karen and Marek traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico to explore the possibility of working there after Karen lost her election bid. That book ended with the two of them in a hot air balloon as they received word that Karen had actually won the race in a recount, and that her opponent, Bob Bunting, was found dead. Since they had an air-tight alibi of being in a different state at the time, they come home to investigate the murder.

What follows is a story set amidst the poorest of the poor in Eda County, South Dakota. Bunting was found in the latrine at a local park which sits next to a campground and a trailer park. As they interview potential witnesses, they strip away the curtain from those who live a hand-to-mouth existence on the edge of poverty. There is a homeless camp in the park that park director wanted removed in his bid to make this a state park. Bunting was involved in that, as well as an illegal eviction scheme at the nearby trailer park. None of these people have any place else to go.

Parts of Dead Poor are depressing as Karen and Marek find people who are on the edges of live and barely surviving. Karen does her best to cut them a break and help them out. It’s also a time when she reflects on her own upbringing and how fortunate she really was. Her family wasn’t wealthy or anything, but there was security and love that she didn’t appreciate at the time. Bunting is both a horrible person, and, in the end, an unlikely hero as things pan out.

If there’s one negative here, it’s a complaint I had about the previous book as well. Marek’s daughter is supposedly so traumatized by events in their past, and yet he seems to be constantly shuttling her off with other people. At least here, back home in Reunion, they are people she is used to and knows very well. 

I did enjoy the mystery. There were many red herrings that kept me guessing because there was so much going on. This is the case in many towns where there is a subculture of people who are barely getting by and keep strictly to themselves. It’s easy for people to ignore when they are not in it. They are also exploited by those looking to make a quick buck off of those who can least afford it and can’t afford a lawyer to challenge it. It takes a tragic event or a serious crime to bring it to the surface, and even then, it’s usually quickly forgotten. Fortunately, there’s something of a positive resolution for many of the affected families in this story. That’s usually not the case in real life.

Despite the morose theme, I did like Dead Poor. The mystery was compelling and the layers of what we know about people – good, bad, or otherwise – are peeled back for all to see. I like human characters that have many different sides, and that is exposed here. Karen’s reflections on what it has meant to live in this town and know those people are there without really knowing ring so true, as anyone who lives in a rural area can tell you.

Previous book in the series: