The Buzzard Table by Margaret Maron

The Buzzard Table is the concrete slab where an ersatz naturalist feeds roadkill to the local vultures, commonly (but inaccurately) known as buzzards. When first a local realtor's body is found near the table and a few days later, a barely breathing high school journalist, the naturalist is the prime suspect.  Margaret Maron skillfully continues to develop the story of Judge Deborah Knott, her husband, Sheriff Dwight Bryant, and their large extended family.  She mixes in some bits about U.S. foreign policy and rendition flights into the everybody knows everybody else's business aspect of small town life to create a thoughtful, satisfying read.   305 pages.