検索キーワード： 著者 "Jess Lourey" すべてのカテゴリー

Cue the accordions: Battle Lake, Minnesota, is kicking off October Fest with polka, sausage, and cold suds. The big inaugural event? A debate between two congressional hopefuls. One, stultifyingly sincere. The other, a foot-in-mouth tippler. Reporter Mira James is roped into covering their fighting words…and then a murder, when a relentless pit bull of a blogger is found dead at a motor lodge filled to capacity with fellow pundits, campaign entourages, and tourists—all of whom have just become suspects.

A charitable senior finds her calling making creepily authentic life-size dolls. Call it recreation. But when Mira finds a dead body encased under that painted porcelain, it’s more like murder. It gets even stranger when Mira’s investigation lands her just where the Battle Lake police chief wants her: in jail. Luckily, Team Mira is on the case. They’re a fierce, if unlikely, force to be reckoned with: one flashy lady mayor and Mira’s scrappy nonagenarian best friend.

The Minnesota State Fair wows again with 4-H exhibits, rides, a Neil Diamond concert, and deep-fried everything on a stick. Covering it is a breezy assignment as fluffy as cotton candy for reporter Mira James, until the main attraction becomes murder.

Summer in Battle Lake kicks off with fireworks and festivities, but it’s a local treasure hunt that’s amping up the tourist trade. It certainly piques the interest of part-time reporter Mira James—both as fodder for a column and because she could use the five grand in prize money. The treasure? A faux diamond hidden at the bottom of Whiskey Lake.

Mira James is heading to Oregon by rail with two of her best friends to attend a PI conference. Even better, she’ll see Johnny, the love of her life, who’s in Portland for an internship. It’ll be scenic, swift, and safe. Until it isn’t.

The bodies of three teenage girls are found in central Minnesota—each with her mouth fixed in a ghoulish grin, smiling at a deadly joke no one can hear. But authorities eventually close and forget the curious case, dubbed the Laughing Dead. Decades later, cold case agent Evangeline “Van” Reed is called to the scene of a crime where the victim wears that same horror-movie smile. But this time someone seems to be sending a message: Van’s police ID has turned up at the scene, making her the prime suspect.