Local author Judy Clemens has a launch party planned for her newly-released book "The Grim Reaper's Dance." The event is from4 to 6 p.m., Saturday, July 17, at the Stately Raven Bookstore, 1315 N. Main St., Findlay.

This is the second book in the Grim Reaper mystery series. A brief synopsis of the book follows:

When Casey Maldonado and Death hitch a desperate ride away from one disaster, they throw themselves right into the middle of another one. The semi in which they are traveling crashes, and before the Grim Reaper takes Evan the Trucker away, Evan whispers to Casey about a stash hidden in the truck that she should keep away from them.

Them turns out to be a band of men who want that package no matter what it takes, and they believe Casey knows where-and what-it is. Alone and injured, with neither money nor identification, Casey escapes from under the noses of the ER doctors and her pursuers, and hides out in the cornfields of Kansas. The valuable stash turns out to be photos, truck manifests, and other information pointing Casey toward something big and complicated-a conspiracy? Smuggling? Blackmail? She can't be sure.

Casey, uncertain how to proceed, is led by Death to a group of teenagers looking for something other than dust and crops to fill their days-and their nights. Using their limited resources, she finds her way into a maze of greed and desperation-and into the clutches of people who don't care who gets hurt as long as they get what they want.