The Forest of Mayhem: A tale of inherited clutter, modern diets and an assortment of passions

Description

“Create, then sell” are common author goals, but what to do when a book launch fails?

Kami Schmidt created a clever novel, but she followed this with an epic faceplant in sales. Trained as a scientist, Kami can correlate her poor book launch with the heartbreak of her parents’ deaths, but that insight doesn’t lift her gloom and exhaustion. Not when she’s now knee-deep in “collectibles” from her parents’ estate.

Is there gold in them-thar knick-knacks? There’s definitely dust on the vintage jackalope.

Kami finds snatches of serenity while walking a woodland trail that borders her rural road. She’s astonished by the beauty and lethality of small species living just feet from her back door, but the complexities of the forest community pale in comparison to the toxicity exuded by some of her neighbors. The ardent vegans disapprove of the local llama and free-range chicken farm, a birder is furious at a cat lover who wants to install a feral cat colony, and Kami is asked to host a multi-level marketing expert with an eager appetite for money-making.

When a swindler arrives in the neighborhood to manipulate the animal-rights activists, Kami must blend science, logic and story-telling to navigate through the nuances of diets and passions. With collectibles and essential oils stacked high and emotions running even higher, how can Kami separate the hype from the truth?

Are the neighbors truly deadlier than the poisonous residents of the woods?