Dearly Departed (The Afterlife Files #11)

The whole town gathers to say goodbye to Pearl Kessler. Someone makes it permanent.

After thirty years running the county water conservancy, Pearl Kessler is finally retiring, and Honeyvale is throwing her the farewell she deserves. The banner is hung, the cake is ordered, and Pearl herself picked the slogan: To Our Dearly Departed Director.

Then Pearl turns up dead in the reservoir, and the joke stops being funny.

Wren Grimm has read plenty of final moments, but Pearl's are washed out, blurred by the water that took her. All Wren can feel is fear and betrayal. With her newest ally wearing a shiny conservancy badge and a killer hiding behind thirty years of goodwill, Wren must untangle water rights, old grudges, and buried secrets before the town buries the truth along with its most beloved citizen.

Some goodbyes are forever.