November Hunt
May Day- 1st in the Murder-by-Month Series
A hip, humorous, and gripping account of small-town murder, this novel is the first in a series of comic caper mysteries featuring Mira James, an urban woman with rural Minnesota roots.
Minneapolitan Mira James has been taking it easy since college graduation - too easy. Due to a dead-end job and a cheating boyfriend, the Twin Cities have lost their charm, and Mira decides to begin a new life in rural Battle Lake. Right away she is offered jobs as an assistant librarian and part-time reporter, and falls into an unexpected romance with a guy who seems to be the perfect man -- until he turns up dead between the reference stacks her tenth day on the job.
Anxious to learn more about the man who had briefly stolen her heart, Mira delves into the hidden mysteries of Battle Lake, including a old land deed with ancient Ojibwe secrets, an obscure octogenarian crowd with freaky social lives, and a handful of thirtysomething high school buddies who hold bitter, decades-old grudges. Mira soon discovers that unknown dangers are concealed under the polite exterior of this quirky small town, and revenge is a tator-tot hotdish best served cold.
June Bug - 2nd in the Murder-by-Month Series
Local legend claims that a diamond necklace was lost nearly a century ago in nearby Whiskey Lake, not far from the present-day Shangri-La resort. Mira, a part-time reporter, goes fishing for the story behind the legend. Diving into the lake only gets her into a terrifying tango with a waterlogged corpse. And so begins the treasure hunt. Buoyed by frozen Nut Goodies and a diminutive circus performer, Mira embarks on an exhilarating search for the jewels that puts her face-to-face with menacing forces that threaten to tear the small town apart.
Knee High By the Fourth of July - 3rd in the Murder-by-Month Series
Nominated for Lefty for Best Humorous Mystery of 2007!
Chosen as a 2007 Killer Book by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association
Mira James thought Chief Wenonga was a safe love interest. He was tall, dark, and handsome, and he never picked fights. So what if he was a 23-foot fiberglass statue? It was the perfect relationship -- until he disappeared, and Mira found a bloody human scalp at the base.
As Mira searches for someone missing a chunk of head, a second statue disappears from west central Minnesota, and she realizes she is dealing with something far more sinister than a simple prank.
August Moon -4th in the Murder-by-Month Series
**Booklist starred review**
Mira James' fury over getting stood up by Johnny Leeson is hotter than the scorching summer heat in this fourth Murder-by-Month mystery. She's getting out of Battle Lake, Minnesota, where the women are churchgoers, the men like to hunt, and the body count is above average. But before our sassy young heroine can hightail it back to Minneapolis to become a cat-collecting, fist-shaking, asexual English professor, a colleague is found murdered.
Clues lead Mira to suspect Pastor Meale and his family, who run the evangelical New Millennium Bible Camp. Snooping around at the camp's Creation Science Fair only turns up a disturbing "Stepford Wives meets Hee Haw" atmosphere, which, to Mira's dismay, isn't a crime. Then heart-wrenching news from home almost sends Mira over the edge...
Before ditching this eccentric small town, Mira is hell-bent on confronting her own demons and catching a killer.
September Fair - 5th in the Murder-by-Month Series
**Booklist starred review**
The Minnesota State Fair-the beloved home of 4-H exhibits, Midway rides, and everything on a stick. The festival fun is riding high until the newly crowned Milkfed Mary, Queen of the Dairy, a Battle Lake native, is brutally murdered while her regal likeness is carved in butter.
Can Mira James, covering the fair for the Battle Lake Recall, expose a deadly State Fair secret and win a blue ribbon for caging a killer? You bet your last deep-fried Nut Goodie!
October Fest 6th in the Murder-By-Month Series
Nominated for Lefty for Best Humorous Mystery of 2011!
**Booklist starred review**
**Library Journal starred review**
What do you get when you cross beer, a conservative politician who keeps planting her foot in her mouth, and polka music? October Fest in Battle Lake, that's what.
Sarah Glokkmann, incumbent Minnesota Representative hot on the campaign trail, faces off with Arnold Swydecker in a debate held at the cusp of Battle Lake's premier fall festival. When a too-curious reporter covering the event winds up on the no-breathing list, all fingers point at Glokkmann. But is she being framed? Mira James couldn't care less. That is, until Mrs. Berns ends up in intensive care and Mira must solve the murder to save her best friend.
November Hunt- 7th in the Murder-by-Month Series
**Booklist starred review**
November in Battle Lake, Minnesota, is cold enough to freeze the balls off a pool table. It's also deer hunting season. When Tom Kicker is killed in a hunting accident, Mira James is hired to investigate -- a job that brings her closer to a P.I. license. Braving subzero temps and a shrieking blizzard, Mira uncovers a nasty secret that threatens to destroy the town's most prominent families.
See our interview with Jess Lourey about her new book in the series December Dread, and The Toadhouse Trilogy for young adults!
Female First Lucy Walton