Des Moines lawyer Lee Shearer has written his second – and possibly his last – novel, a fast-moving story that covers 195 pages and ends with a satisfying twist.

It’s called “Hiding in Des Moines,” which is what freelance vigilante Doug Valli is doing when he is hired to prevent a merger between a Mexican drug cartel and a pot dealer in southwest Iowa.

Valli and other characters from Shearer’s 2010 RAGBRAI murder mystery, “Cycles of Death,” return in the new book, as do sub-themes about aging and Iowa life. But the action is entirely different.

The heroes, so to speak, are semiretired, wealthy golfing buddies with unusual, but not always legal, skills.

“I wanted to tell the story about both the pleasures and challenges of aging,” said Shearer, who is 69. “I felt I could do a better job than I did in ‘Cycles of Death.’”

And he has.

The opening scene involves the suicide of one of the buddies who, we later learn, has begun displaying Alzheimer’s symptoms. In the middle of a frosty night, he drives his BMW to Woodward, rides his bicycle to the center of the High Trestle Trail bridge over the Des Moines River, climbs on the rail and takes a header.

Another theme is Shearer’s unabashed love of Des Moines and its people, including local personalities who make cameo appearances and who provided promotional endorsements for the back cover: retired Hy-Vee Inc. chief Ron Pearson, artist and entrepreneur Sarah Grant and Templeton Rye founders Scott Bush and Keith Kerkhoff.

The main storyline is told as a business fable in part two of the four-part novel. Chapters begin with textbook advice on mergers and acquisitions, which provide a framework for the unfolding takeover of a surprisingly large Iowa marijuana operation by Mexicans.

At this point, it’s worth remembering that Shearer was the general counsel for Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. in 1999, when the Iowa seed company was acquired in a surprise takeover by E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. for $7.7 billion.

That bit of insider knowledge adds to the credibility of the story and makes it interesting, although irrelevant, when the pot dealer shows up wearing a Pioneer cap and transporting his buyout cash in Pioneer-logoed gym bags.

Shearer already had the idea for his second novel when I interviewed him in 2010 about “Cycles of Death.” He believes the character and plot development are better in his second book, much of which he wrote last winter. Also, he had help this time on concept and structure from retired editor Bill Sheridan and retired Wells Fargo Financial executive Dennis Young.

Both books are self-published, but Shearer said the advent of e-readers and competition among self-publishing companies make it easier this time to reach a wider audience. “Hiding in Des Moines” sells for $20 and is available at The Book Store in downtown Des Moines and Beaverdale Books, as well as from Amazon.com and lee-shearer.com.

Shearer’s current project is a website, EnergizedAging.com, which he hopes will become a bulletin board for thoughts and advice on aging. The website is up but does not yet have content.

Meanwhile, he added, there may, or may not, be a third novel about his intrepid band of retirees.

Elbert Note: Too much politics – Speaking of retirees, a friend returned from a 10-day vacation recently to find 18 messages on his answering machine. Fourteen were from Republicans, including seven from the Republican National Committee and four from the Mitt Romney campaign. The man and his wife are registered Democrats, prompting him to wonder about the efficacy of Republican campaigns.