A sweltering heat wave strieks the Smoky Mountains and combines with cold cases of murder, producing work Sheriff Tony Abernathy doesn't want. He discovers evil in his little county. No one is safe. As he and his tiny force dig into the facts, the pieces don't fit. Lawn ornaments vanish each night. An anonymous person mails Tony notes and newspaper clippings about people who disappeared twenty years ago. Baffled, Tony finds himself pulled in many directions, including Ohio, searching for answers. His wife Theo takes time from designing a new mystery quilt to examine the "murder quilt," an antique donated to the new folk museum. Following the tangled threads of cold cases and new ones, Tony learns the power of history. A single quilt has links to tow murdered women. Tony finds more questions than answers. Why was Queen Doreen, the mayor's unpopular wife, at the museum after closing? Who used an antique flax hackle to killer her? Juggling diverse cases while dealing with the crotchety, cantankerous, adoring and dangerous residents of his small county sends Tony in search of antacides and leaves him little time to watch his children play baseball. Just when it looks like he has things under control, they get worse. Murder by Artifact is an entertaining small town mystery-pieced together with oddball characters.