Where the Dead Sleep

Where the Dead Sleep is the second novel in Joshua Moehling's Ben Packard mystery series, set in the fictional lake town of Sandy Lake, Minnesota. When local man Bill Sandersen — a man who left bad debts and broken hearts behind him — is found shot dead in his bed, Acting Sheriff Ben Packard is drawn into an investigation with an uncomfortably long list of suspects.

As the case deepens, it collides with older, more dangerous secrets buried in Sandy Lake's past, and Packard himself becomes a target. Alongside the murder, Packard is weighing whether to run for sheriff outright, testing how much of his old life in the North Woods he actually wants back.

Moehling follows up 2022's And There He Kept Her with a novel critics called tighter and more assured than its predecessor, mixing deadpan humor and small-town texture with real darkness and thoughtful character work.