LONG OVERDUE AT THE LAKESIDE LIBRARY

3 stars out of 5

A good plot that held my interest; wish I could be as complimentary about the two  main characters. To be sure, they fit the "cozy mystery heroine" mold perfectly - one has emotional baggage from the past, a great job, friends who love her and a penchant for investigating things that go bump in the night - or in this case, in an ice-fishing shanty. The other is loud, obnoxious, doesn't know the meaning of the word no and shoves her way into everyone else's life even when it's not appreciated. The first, Rain Wilmot, wouldn't be quite so hard to take if just once in a while she'd grow a backbone instead of caving to her friend Julia's outrageous demands; Julia, however, is beyond redemption.

Put together, they bring a whole new meaning to going off the deep end. That there are no consequences for their downright illegal behavior makes the whole thing even more of a travesty. That they laughingly agree to lie to the police if necessary to keep from going to jail because they broke the law, well, that crosses a line that, at least IMHO, shouldn't be crossed.

All that said, I'll return to that good plot - which makes for an entertaining book for those who don't share my concerns (this one is, for the record, the second in a series; I did not read the first, but I never felt at a disadvantage because of that). Rain has decided to live year-round at her family's log cabin compound on Pine Lake, Wisconsin; she runs the Lofty Pines library, attached to her house, which now will be open all year. It's winter, so the small community is preparing for an ice fishing tournament and "chili dump." Rain has hopes that her neighbor, Nick, will win the tourney - he's married to her best friend, the aforementioned Julia (he seems like a really nice guy, so what he sees in her is a not-so-cozy mystery). But before the competition can ramp into full gear, something awful happens: a local man, Wallace Benson, is found stabbed to death. The problem? He was seen arguing with Nick, who shows up with a nasty cut on his hand. When what may be the murder weapon - a fishing knife - is discovered in Nick's tackle box, he gets arrested.

Julia, needless to say, is determined to prove her husband didn't do it; Rain, who knows Nick well, agrees he's innocent. So, the two women, plus Julia's brother and local police officer Jace, set out to gather evidence. Mostly, though, they just talk about it - and spend even more time talking about the snowstorm that's apparently one of the worst to hit the Badger State in years. The storm's fury is exacerbated because Nick handled snowplow duties for the locals, but being jailed put rather a kabosh on that. The solution for that comes when one of the two potential love interests for Rain gives Julia five minutes of instruction on how to operate the plow so when she's not blabbing about the sleuthing she thinks they should be doing and how bad the storm is, she can pitch in (which, if I recall correctly, she actually does only once, when it serves her own purpose).

Toward the end, the action picks up as another tragedy strikes, making the case against Nick less of a sure thing and putting the lives of Rain and Julia at serious risk. Nope, no details from me - all I'll disclose from this point on is that I received an advance copy to read and review from the publisher (via NetGalley). For the rest, you'll have to get your own copy and find out for yourself.

Long Overdue at the Lakeside Library by Holly Danvers (Crooked Lane Books, February 2022); 304 pp.

BAD MOON RISING

4 stars out of 5

It almost seems contradictory to say this is a good book when there's not a single character I'd ever want to meet or a location that makes me want to be there even if I'm just passing through. After watching all the characters sweat their way through gruesome murders, investigations meandering through muddy streams, bug-infested woods and temperatures hot enough to grill steaks on the pavement, I said a prayer of thanks for the air conditioning that was keeping me cool while I read.

That said, the style in which it's written makes for a bit of a tough go figuring out what's going on here, but once it began to come together in my head, the whole thing was full of action, twists and turns and on the whole a real page-turner. Bad Axe County (Wisconsin) Sheriff Heidi Kick, who's in the midst of a down-and-dirty reelection campaign, is called in when a dead body is found (this is, BTW, the third in the author's Bad Axe County series). Heidi's friend, former editor-in-chief of the local newspaper that's just been bought out by the mother of the guy running against her, thinks the dead guy might somehow be connected to an anonymous person who's been sending dire (and irrational) doomsday warnings to the paper. Unbeknownst to Heidi, he sets off on his own to ferret out the truth despite health issues that threaten to sideline him (or worse) at any given minute.

Meanwhile, Heidi's personal life is less than ideal; her loving husband, Harley, is a local baseball superstar who's away at a tournament - leaving her alone with twin sons Taylor and Dylan, one of whom has serious emotional issues, a daughter who's away at some kind of camp and a mother-in-law from you-know-where. On top of trying to do her job in the unyielding heat, she has to deal with near-threats from the man who's looking to replace her.

There's no way to describe the directions the investigation, political race and Heidi's personal life will go - it's way too complicated - so you'll just have to read the book to find out how it all comes out (and together) in the end. I'm glad I read it - and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy. Beyond that, I'm still breathing a (cool) sigh that I don't live anywhere near this part of the country. Whew!

Bad Moon Rising by John Galligan (Atria Books, June 2021); 334 pp.

BAD AXE COUNTY

4 stars out of 5

If Bad Axe County really existed, I'd never go near it. And based on the characters in this story (which, BTW, there were far too many of for my aging brain to keep straight), I'm happy to not live anywhere near any of these downright detestable folks. That's not to say the book isn't well-written; it is - and no doubt many readers will love it. But I disliked the people and places so much that it was hard to work up much enthusiasm for the plot.

Heidi Kick is the new interim sheriff in Bad Axe County, Wisconsin - the first female in what's clearly old-boy territory. She's married to Harley, who in his younger days was a star baseball player (and who is the only character in this story who has redeeming social value, IMHO). More than a decade earlier, Heidi's parents were found dead on their farm, and the police ruled it a murder-suicide. Heidi never believed that, though, and has tried ever since to figure out what really happened to them.

She's also got a job to do, though much of it seems to be an uphill battle against the seedy folks in the backwoods county who don't want her to do it. So bad is the situation that she's not even totally sure she'll run for the upcoming election that, should she somehow win, would give her a more permanent status. 

As a real storm brews, a storm of another sort pops up in the local library involving an unidentified man, a young girl and a years-earlier baseball game that nobody - including Heidi's husband - want to talk about. That, in turn, leads to Heidi's learning about secret "stag parties" attended by all sorts of locals and an assortment of young girls, not all of whom were there of their own volition (think: human trafficking). One, in fact, has been missing ever since the party that followed that secretive baseball game; now, Heidi fears that the girl in the library may be another unwilling victim (one who, hopefully, she can save).

The nasty weather and roiling rivers take their toll as Heidi investigates up and down very run-down properties like a salvage yard and a restaurant/bar, both of which are operated by characters even a mother couldn't love. Can Heidi find the missing girl before it's too late? Will she learn whose hand really killed her parents? And will her marriage survive the secrets her husband has been keeping from her? All are questions that aren't for me to reveal; you'll just have to read it for yourself. Do so only, I might add, if you don't mind graphic language and really, really rough guys and gals (the language does fit the characters, but even though that usually doesn't bother me much, in this case it made me like them all even less).

Bottom line? While I appreciate the quality of the writing, this one is just too dark and gritty for me. In other words, I got through it intact, but I admit I'm now looking forward to diving into a cozy mystery (and if you know my opinion on those, you know that speaks volumes). Thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

Bad Axe County by John Galligan (Atria Books, July 2019); 336 pp.

HUSH MONEY

5 stars out of 5

A "throzy," perhaps? See what I did there? Coined a new term for this kind of book: Easy, breezy reading that's a hallmark of a cozy, but enough sex, mayhem and moving-right-along excitement to qualify as a thriller. 

There's another hallmark of a cozy at play here as well: A heroine who is (a) independent, headstrong and professionally successful, (b) fiercely loyal except when it doesn't serve her purpose, (c) hung up on past issues she can't resolve and (d) incapable of heeding anyone else's advice even when it puts her and those she loves in danger. 

And there you have Sydney Richardson, owner of two very different restaurants in Madison, Wisconsin and the star of this, the first book in a new series. One, the Ten-Ten, primarily is a bar that caters to first-responders (her late father was a cop). The other, Hush Money (like the book title) is a hoity-toity sit-down restaurant targeting the upper-crust in this up-and-coming city. She's determined to make both restaurants a success, aided and abetted by her very capable, loving (if a bit overprotective and overbearing) mother, Nancy. Sydney is interesting and likable, except perhaps when she's in (c) or (d) mode - I identify more with the strong woman with a can-do attitude part. When she refuses to listen, or selectively blows off only one of the many who tell her to mind her own business, it's not so much; but then without those moments, I guess there wouldn't be much of a story.

And make no mistake, it's a solid one. One of the servers, a woman named Wanda (a.k.a., Windy), fails to show up for work at Hush Money. That evening, Sydney has a run-in with the very drunk wife of the town's hard-driving - some would say ruthless - mayor, who claims she was waiting for her no-show husband. Turns out he had a good reason; back at their home, hizzoner has met an untimely end. And who is the prime suspect? None other than Windy, who is at the home and covered in the mayor's blood.

No matter how convinced the cops are that Windy is guilty - including Sydney's father's old police partner Horst Welke, who's been assigned to the case - Sydney simply can't believe that this mother of a young daughter did the deed. So, Sydney hires hot-shot attorney Andrew Conyer who will, hopefully, get her off. As the evidence against Windy mounts, so does Sydney's determination that the woman is innocent; but will Sydney's constant push-backs against the police and Windy's lawyer do more harm than good?

Throughout it all, Sydney must keep the restaurants running (which involves, not insignificantly, riding herd on a talented but impossibly egotistical chef). Apparently she doesn't need much sleep, since many nights after her fancy restaurant closes, she heads for the Low Down, a blues bar, to kick back to the music and bask in the company of the handsome, witty, wife-free (of course) guy who owns it.

Everything builds up to a surprising conclusion, when just about everything is resolved except those pesky details of Sydney's long-ago past. Now, she's free once again to build up business at her restaurants, possibly find a love life and, almost certainly, tackle another murder - all of which, I assume, will be fodder for the next book. I'll be waiting!

Thanks very much to the publisher, via NetGalley, for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Hush Money by T.E. Woods (Alibi, August 2017). Page count not listed.