Foul Rising by Mark H. Bliss

 Foul Rising by Mark H. Bliss - 201 pages

Floodwalls are meant to protect people. But what if they do just the opposite? What if they only make flooding worse for those not behind the wall? Professor Tanner Holloway thinks so. So does Harvey Winston, mayor of East Elmwood, Illinois, a small, blue-collar village across the Mississippi River from the floodwall-protected city of Elmwood in Southeast Missouri.

This fictional book is based on Cape Girardeau, Missouri.  I have been to Cape Girardeau and have seen the flood wall and its artwork.

The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip by Sara Brunsvold

 The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip by Sara Brunsvold - 361 pages

Aidyn Kelley is talented, ambitious, and ready for a more serious assignment than the fluff pieces she's been getting as a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star. In her eagerness, she pushes too hard, earning herself the menial task of writing an obituary for an unremarkable woman who's just entered hospice care.

But there's more to Clara Kip than meets the eye. The spirited septuagenarian may be dying, but she's not quite ready to cash it in yet. Never one to shy away from an assignment herself, she can see that God brought the young reporter into her life for a reason. And if it's a story Aidyn Kelley wants, that's just what Mrs. Kip will give her--but she's going to have to work for it.