Bitter Roots by C J Carmichael

Dispatcher Zak Waller prefers working behind the scenes in the Sheriff's Office of Lost Trail, Montana, but when a newcomer to the sparely populated town is brutally murdered—and the Sheriff is quick to pin the death on an unknown outsider—Zak starts his own private sleuthing. A lot has changed in the past few weeks, including the unexpected homecoming of Zak's former classmate Tiff Masterson. Tiff has her own reasons for wanting to figure out who's responsible for the murder. Since her brother and father's deaths over sixteen years ago, she has believed there is a malevolent force at work in Lost Trail. Maybe solving this crime will give her a chance to prove it.