The big story of the day is whether Nathan Gabriel will run for Congress. Yet the story that claims public imagination is a stray dog near the freeway. Yet when police and the dog catcher collar the mutt, they discover the body of a drifter. Nor did the dead man die of natural causes. Someone helped him along and the question is who. Was it the drifter's buddy, the wino, or the priest who runs the homeless shelter? Or was it someone else? The police are stumped and rookie reporter Dana Leery is determined to find out. Yet she is not prepared for what she discovers as she probes the mystery of Dead Man's Grove.