Birch Bay Mayor Laura Kjelstad is at it again in Murder for Mayor. Follow the mayor as she and other characters first introduced by author Andie Peterson in 2006 try to figure out how a July 4th murder in Scott County in 1984 affects the mayor and her friends. This is a great read and can be picked up at most local bookstores.
In Murder for Mayor, Birch Bay Mayor Laura Kjelstad—introduced in the 2006 Northern Explosion: A Laura Kjelstad Mystery—is back in the thick of intrigue, both political and murderous. And while a purely logical reader may question a small town mayor with a gun-toting, martial arts expert alter ego, author Andie Peterson ably maneuvers her character into danger, drawing Laura in with the murder of a friend on Brighton Beach just outside of Duluth.
Peterson blends fact and fiction, setting the imagined Birch Bay near Lake Superior and the landmarks of the City of Duluth, such as Miller Hill Mall and the High Bridge. The fiction has a ring of truth, as Mayor Kjelstad faces small-town politics, both petty and slanderous. Her bid for reelection brings forward her detractors and supporters—the latter particularly vicious, at the Big Timber Cafe and on Internet blogs, decrying her positions on planning and zoning issues and her supposed role in the demise of the “six o’clock whistle.”
The politics are nasty, but not as villainous as the crime at the start of Murder for Mayor. It begins with just a snippet to whet the appetite of mystery fans—what does a 4th of July 1984 murder in Scott County have to do with Laura in Birch Bay? Why were the last words of the recently murdered woman meant for Laura? What was so important about the piece of jewelry she pressed into a witness’s hand before dying?
The answers do not come easily. Laura and her friends, many reappearing from Northern Explosion, including the handsome Sheriff Sam Mikkelson, become embroiled in a decades-old mystery. Laura and friends travel the route of many North Shore snowbirds, following clues to beautiful Sedona, Arizona. Their western visit is anything but restful however, as their quest for the truth is hindered by someone who wants to stop them—at any cost.
Murder for Mayor is a fun summer read. Pick it up at nearly any North Shore bookseller to find out how the mystery—and the election—ends.
Leave a Reply