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.

FALLEN ANGEL

4 stars out of 5

I've read two other books in this series - this is the 13th - and enjoyed them. The main characters, Sheriff Jenna Alton and her professional and personal partner, David Kane, are likable, skilled people with intriguing, secretive backgrounds who are, well, fun to read about. So naturally, I was looking forward to diving into this one. But for several reasons, this one doesn't quite measure up.

On the plus side, the story itself held my interest from beginning to end. The setting is an expansive mountaintop resort in the middle of winter, at which a convention of current and would-be writers, agents and publishers is happening. Alton and Kane are here to follow up on a gone-missing report of one of the most successful agents; they hang around after her dead, frozen body is found in a pond near her chalet. Also onsite is another familiar character, Medical Examiner Shane Wolfe, who is accompanied by his two grown daughters Emily and Julie - both of whom play major roles this time out.

As they and other members of their team work toward narrowing down suspects - not an easy task given the well-known nastiness of the dead woman - another victim turns up in an under-construction chalet, together with a clue that ties the two murders together. Given that blizzard conditions prevent all but emergency comings and goings, it becomes clear that the murderer is in their midst; and when yet another body gets zapped, they realize they're dealing with a serial killer.

Everyone, including Wolfe's daughters, get their heads together to speculate on the killer's motive in hopes of preventing yet another ugly incident. As a team, they all work well together - even honoring professional responsibilities during a spat between two lovers that would make a junior high student cringe - but the killer's identity remains elusive. As an aside, though, I had to wonder why on earth Kane is sometimes called "Uncle Dave" and other times "Uncle Kane" by the girls - like, who calls an uncle by his last name)? But hey, maybe that was explained in a previous book.

In between "regular" chapters, readers get the musings from the clearly deranged killer himself (or herself - the investigative team realizes that the methods of death could be accomplished by either sex). It is here, too, that readers learn the killer has set sights not only on a select list of victims, but on a team member as well. Can the good guys and gals figure out who the culprit is before the unthinkable happens and one of their own goes down for the count? 

As this exciting race to the finish plays out, it's clear that pains are being taken to keep readers guessing whether the killer is male or female. That process, sorry to say, triggered one of my grammar hot buttons: Pairing a plural pronoun with a singular antecedent. An example (my words): "I saw someone get off the elevator, but I didn't recognize 'them'." No, no, a thousand times NO (which has to be close to the number of times it happens in the book, which is why I'm compelled to mention it; once or twice I could overlook). That took a big bite out of my enjoyment of this book, although I still recommend it to others because it's a well-thought-out, interesting story. Thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy.

Fallen Angel by D.K. Hood (Bookouture, November 2021); 232 pp.

WINTER OF THE WOLF MOON

4 stars out of 5

So much did I enjoy the first book in the Alex McKnight series - A Cold Day in Paradise - that I just couldn't wait to start this one, the second. But while I enjoyed it enough to give it a 4-star rating, I have to say that if I were to be super-honest, it's probably closer to a 3.5; it just didn't quite measure up to its predecessor.

Mostly, I think, that's because the story just didn't excite me very much. Yes, former cop McKnight still lives in the remote Upper Peninsula of Michigan - one of my all-time favorite places to visit. But this one takes place in the dead of winter (I like cold weather and even snow, but winter weather here in Ohio is a walk in the park compared with what happens up there, where, we were told, UPS deliveries to Mackinac Island come by way of the frozen lake - a more direct route than the roads ). My other complaint, though relatively minor, is that while I love tough guys who can both dish it out and take it, there are limits on what any human body can withstand - and anything that exceeds those limits becomes (to me) unbelievable.

The story begins as winter sets in with a vengeance, and a woman from the local Ojibwa tribe seeks out McKnight's help in getting away from an abusive boyfriend - a nasty guy who had a run-in with McKnight when they played ice hockey on opposing teams a day or two earlier (McKnight's friend Vinnie LeBlanc, also an Ojibwa, recruited him to serve as goalie). McKnight lets the woman stay in one of the cabins he rents out to fishermen (and presumably women) and snowmobilers; but the next morning, she's nowhere to be found. 

Unhappy that he didn't do more to help her, McKnight sets out to find her - with help from his new "partner," Leon Prudell, who's hell-bent to pair his name with McKnight's on a jointly owned private investigation firm. McKnight isn't at all amenable to that concept, but getting rid of Prudell turns out to be almost as difficult as finding the woman and the abusive boyfriend. Their relationship does, though, provide a bit of much-needed comic relief from the cold and physical tribulations that plague McKnight throughout the book.  

All in all, this is an enjoyable book and certainly didn't change my mind about reading all 10 books in the series. Still, I'm hoping the third one will be on a par (or better than) the first. We'll see!

Winter of the Wolf Moon by Steve Hamilton (Minotaur Books Reprint, April 2007); 288 pp.