A school shooting and groundswell of demand to arm teachers moves the satire of suburban America into the Trump era in Shady Park Panic, Book 2 of the Shady Park Chronicles Series.
Anthony, the reporter from Book 1, First World Problems, now becomes the focus. When he submits his report that it was unarmed teachers who subdued the assailant while two parents who had claimed to be armed for personal protection fled the scene, his publisher deletes those details. It’s not what the public wants to read, and, besides, as Anthony finds out, the Ledger publisher is lending his support to a pro-gun, anti-immigrant politician in return for a favor.
The assailant had aimed his gun at a parent in a hejab. But a mystery develops when it is discovered that, although a teacher was wounded, it was not the assailant’s gun that fired the shot. Bea, an evangelistic School Board member, falsely claims she saw the woman in the hejab fire the shot, and it’s up to Anthony to prove the woman’s innocence and find out who actually shot the teacher.
The publisher’s daughter leaves the paper—and Anthony—to take up with a TV news anchor and starts broadcasting false reports that stir up fear of terrorism. Anthony falls in love with her replacement, the beautiful Pari, who encourages him to keep reporting the truth despite the publisher’s threats to fire both of them. Together they reveal how Bea and her cronies have schemed to cash in on the fear of terrorism they helped to spread.