October Fest

February 15, 2011

Marriage in the ninth decade.

Mrs. Berns, irascible 86-year-old resident of the Senior Sunset home, has decided she will marry Bernard Mink, a nogoodnik with a record for assault and a vocabulary rivaling Mrs. Malaprop's, in order to stymie her son from resettling her in a maximum-security nursing home. The problem is that Bernard may he a murder suspect in the death of political blogger Bob Webber, who either gassed himself or was asphyxiated in a bedroom at the Big Chief Motor Lodge. Mrs. Berns, laid up in a hospital bed with broken ribs, contusions and a bent leg from a suspicious car accident, asks her best friend Mira James, part-time librarian/part-time reporter for the Battle Lake, Minn., Gazette (September Fair, 2009, etc.), to prove Bernard innocent so that her wedding can go on as planned. Mira's snooping wends past two candidates vying for office, a boring do-gooder and a caustic opportunist, and turns up marital infidelity, a wacky daughter devoted to a gerbil, and many opportunities for Mira to fall off the wagon, which she resists with slightly less enthusiasm than the messages beaming from the big blue eyes of her sometime boyfriend Johnny. When the opportunistic candidate is shot, Mira must corral the killer by executing a sting with the help of her ex, Brad, in time for Mrs. Berns' beautifully staged non-wedding at the church.

The murders aren't very interesting, and the plotting self-destructs at the end, but along the way, the story is funny, ribald and brimming with small-town eccentrics. 

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from April 1, 2011

Smart-alecky Minnesota newspaper reporter Mira James reluctantly attends a congressional political debate. Things are heated between the slick incumbent, Sarah Glokkmann, and her challenger, mousy Arnold Swydecker, but even more contentious is the press. When Bob Webber, an anti-Glokkmann blogger, is found murdered the next morning, the local police are baffled. Who would kill him, and is the motivation some sort of silencing effort? Mira has plenty of other concerns--she also runs Battle Lake's public library; tries to keep up with her octogenarian best friend, Mrs. Berns; struggles with romantic issues; and works valiantly at staying sober. Known locally as the gal who's always around when there's a dead body, Mira does it again in her sixth outing. VERDICT With snappy jokes and edgy dialog, Lourey brings a Gen-X tone to a traditional mystery. The classic romance setup and her effective handling of eldercare issues enhance a clever plot. More spunky than sweet; get started on this Lefty-nominated series if you've previously missed it.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 15, 2011
Politics can be dirty, but with Battle Lake, Minnesota, on your campaign trail, they can be lethal. A series of murders, beginning with the untimely death of blogging pundit Bob Webber, plagues the little town. Part-time librarian, part-time reporter for the Battle Lake Recall, and part-time amateur sleuth, Mira James is determined to find the killer. The FBI shrugs off her theories, trusting their own hypotheses instead. This leaves the intrepid librarian/reporter/sleuth no choice but to catch the guilty party on her own. The delightfully quirky cast of recurring charactersthis is the sixth in Loureys series (September Fair, 2009), includes a glitzy sheriff whos opening a spray-tanning and speed-dating business; a feisty, free-living octogenarian whose children have come to town to put her in a home; and local hunk Johnny, whos interested in an understandably cautious Mira. Lourey has cleverly created an entertaining murder mystery with the most unlikely murder accomplice ever. Great fun to read, Loureys latest is loaded with humor, and many of the descriptions are downright poetic. Libraries will want the entire series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)