Meter Maids Eat Their Young

Parking meters, the bane of every driver's existence, could prove fatal for Teller, an award-winning investigative journalist. Returning to his home town after a twenty-year absence, Teller investigates the mysterious appearance of the Meter Mangler, a hooded vandal who is trashing parking meters. The Mangler is fast becoming a local hero to the town, a town being crushed beneath the oppressive thumb of the Department of Parking Enforcement.
With the death of his best friend, Teller turns his attention to the secretive DPE, a government entity which has enacted Draconian measures against anyone unfortunate enough to need a parking space. Commuters are in an uproar, businesses have fled and the downtown shopping area is a ghost town. The people are up in arms. The town is a powder keg. As parking meters spring up everywhere, and uniformed thugs cruise the streets in Cushman carts like hungry wolves seeking prey, Teller struggles with the ghosts of his past and his growing attraction to his blue-haired lodger while staying one step ahead of a growing threat to his life.
If you like Michael Connelly, Carl Hiaasen, Elmore Leonard, James Hall and James Lee Burke you'll enjoy EJ Knapp's witty and engaging style.