Stuck in the Mud: A Mid-Mississippi Valley Mystery

When Carli Pendleton, the young museum educator for the Bolduc House Museum in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, and her colleague, Brad, are harvesting willow saplings near the burnt-out marina on the Mississippi River to make a replica wigwam at the museum's Indian Village, Carli's dog finds a vulture-pecked corpse, a "floater" from St. Louis dead in the water. It was the second time in as many days that Carli has had to call the police and the coroner. Just the previous day some landscapers had accidentally unearthed a skeleton on the museum property that is probably several hundred years old, likely a Native American, so the Native American Grave Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) will guide what happens next. While Carli and Brad wait for the police to arrive at the marina, Carli's friend, Tyrone, calls to say that her Uncle John's best friend and neighbor has been found dead in his St. Louis apartment. The ensuing investigations complicate the 18th century French colonial museum's operations and intrude on Carli's personal life as well. Her mother died several years ago. She is estranged from her musician father who hasn't even remembered to call his mother for three weeks. And then there is her grandmother, Lillian.