June Bug

In Jess Lourey's June Bug, the 2nd installment in the Murder-by-Month Mystery cozy mystery series, this tale will keep you in suspense and at the edge of your seat. A month after Mira's boyfriend Jeff was found murdered, life was never a dull moment for her at Battle Lake Minnesota. While she wouldn't mind lended a hand with the local paper, there was a story about a contest to find the legend of a fake pasty diamond at the bottom of the lake. At first, Mira had a run-in with someone from her past to stir things up, namely Jason Blunt. Then when she went diving to the lake, she uncovered a fake corpse to propel people away from looking for buried and lost treasure. She had ran into some nefarious people and ran into snags along the way. While there was a report about Mrs. Krupps at age 103 had passed away, her philanthropy had became legandary like with her missing husband who had strangely disappeared. She also tried to piece together the mystery, when there was a circus act in town and someone had "faked" his death to stir up new buzz to promote new business.  But that's when Mira had gotten entangled with being part of another "disappearing" act and ended up in the woods. As she prepared to solve the cryptic mystery, there was a kidnapping, and then she had to fight for her life with her own hands.

This was another great cozy mystery set in the fictional town of Battle Lake, Montana. I did like the small town community and its quirky and idealistic settings with a lake of its own. I did like Mira James and how she took charge and overcame some bumpy obstacles along the way to solve the mystery and how she put it together. I've found Mrs. Berns a hoot and had found Kennie Rodgers a bit quite amusing. Mira is your ideal heroine for a cozy series that would keep you in suspense to see how she figured it out. This has non-stop action, intrigue, a hint of drama, and plenty of mystery along the way.

Will you catch a June Bug and solve the riddle today?

May Day

Welcome to a new kind of cozy mystery, when there's a murder every month. When you think of May Day, you'll think about the call for help, like in a distress signal or the first day of May, when there's a parade and a dance. Well, for Jess Lourey's May Day, the first book in the Murder-by-Month mystery series, her heroine Mira James sent out her own SOS. When she returned back to her home small town of Battle Lake, Minnesota, who said you can't go home again, she got a new job as the librarian at the library and discovered a dead body in plain sight. We learned about Mira's past with her father and her troubled adolescent years, when we found out about Mira's connection to the deceased. And from there, she was on the hunt for clues on why the state's hero was killed and with what motives. Jealousy? Greed? Or something else entirely, that may or may not stem from the past. She'd gotten to know the people in Battle Lake, its history of the land, and the residents hidden secrets. She became closer to the truth, until someone sent her a message to back off, before she's next. What a shocking twist in the end!

I loved the concept of having a murder every month, even if it corresponded with a holiday or not, along with the seasons. And to have the setting in a library made it even homier and better. I did feel bad for Mira, when she found Jeff dead. I didn't like his ex-girlfriend, who was a bit much of a drama queen. We cared about Mira and her journey for justice as well. This was a page turner that kept you hooked into suspense to find out who had done it and why.

Ready for a  new cozy? Give this one a try today!