Oh hi! Glad you got my message. I’ve radioed Out of Service for lunch, so I can spare about thirty minutes. Why the Gray Line Diner? Well, it’s run by a former Pennsylvania State Trooper, so it’s a good place for law enforcement to eat. Plus, Boss took me here when my training was up, so it’s a sentimental favorite.

Who’s Boss? Oh, that’s Jim Duncan. See, he was one of my FTO’s, that’s Field Training Officer. He taught me a lot and if I’m any good at this job, it’s because of him. I started calling him “Boss” as a joke during training and it stuck. I think he found it annoying at first, but he’s gotten used to it.

So you want to know what a typical day is like for me. Well, I suppose it’s not much different than any other patrol officer for the PSP. I work out of the Uniontown barracks, same as Boss. I go to roll call, grab my keys, and hit the roads driving around this part of Fayette County. It’s very rural, very pretty. I get all the typical types of calls – domestic disturbance, bar brawls, shoplifting – broken up by some traffic stops, drunk driving, speeding, you know the drill.

My favorite is when Boss asks me to help him on one of his special projects. He’s not technically an investigator, but Lieutenant Nicols, that’s our barracks commander, lets him push the edges. He’s got a bug up his butt right now, in fact. Over the weekend, a dead body washed up in the Casselman River in the town of Confluence, practically in his backyard. So you know Boss can’t let that go.

I think he’s got exciting job things in the works, to tell the truth. This is a promotion year and I know Lt. Nicols wants Boss to put in for promotion to corporal. He’s been stuck at Trooper First Class for years just because he hasn’t wanted to leave Uniontown and we haven’t had an opening at that rank. Now we do. But I wonder about the investigative thing. It’s always interested him and he’s talked recently about a move to Criminal Investigation. It would be a shame to lose him at the barracks, but he’d be good at the job.

Speaking of big career moves, Sally said an old friend of hers from law school wants her to partner up. Oh, I’m talking about Sally Castle, Boss’s girlfriend and an assistant public defender for Fayette County. We’ve become pretty good friends. She and I get together to talk about the guys, Boss and my boyfriend, Tom Burns, who is a deputy coroner for the county. How’d we meet? Actually, it was at the scene of a dead body. I thought he was super annoying, but then I got to know him and it’s cool. At least neither one of us is grossed out by the other’s career.

Back to Sally. I just can’t see her not at the public defender. She’s so passionate about sticking up for the “little guy,” you know? But I also know she’s been frustrated lately. She’s had to defend some people she’d rather not, and the rules at the public defender prevent her from taking on clients she’d really like to work with. This friend though, Kim. She sounds like a pistol, all about making her name with the high-profile cases. Absolutely not Sally’s thing. It’ll be interesting.

Oops, that’s a radio call from EOC. Traffic fatality nearby. I gotta run. Never a dull moment, right?

Harm Not The Earth, A Laurel Highlands Mystery #4
Genre: Traditional
Release: August 2021
Purchase Link

When Southwest Pennsylvania’s summer rains flood the Casselman River, State Police Trooper Jim Duncan finds a John Doe body in what is initially believed to be a tragic accident. But when a second victim, John Doe’s partner in an environmental group at odds with a nearby quarry operation, is rescued, all thoughts of accidental drowning are abandoned. After Jim is invited to join the official investigation, he begins to think a career shift might be in his future.

Meanwhile, Assistant Public Defender Sally Castle is approached by an abused woman who is accused of murdering her abuser. Although the rules prevent Sally from taking the case, she steps outside her office to help the woman and discover the truth.

As their separate cases become intertwined, Jim and Sally struggle to determine if their new paths can be traveled together or if they will divide their newly repaired relationship. And equally important, will they be able to bring a killer to justice before another innocent life is lost?

About the author
Liz Milliron is the author of The Laurel Highlands Mysteries series, set in the scenic Laurel Highlands and The Homefront Mysteries, set in Buffalo, NY during the early years of World War II. She is a member of Pennwriters, Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, and The Historical Novel Society. Now an empty-nester, Liz lives outside Pittsburgh with her husband and a very spoiled retired-racer greyhound.

All comments are welcomed.