Super sleuth mayor Laura Kjelstad is at it again as mystery and mayhem find its way into the sleepy little town of Birch Bay in Andie Peterson’s third novel starring Kjelstad. This is a great read, a lot of fun for lovers of “whodunnit” books.
Birch Bay is a quiet, picturesque town located in northern Minnesota, but the town is shook to its core when the popular, rich visitor Tony Harrington is found dead in his car with gunshot wounds to his head and back.
Who killed Tony and why?
In Grand Marais resident Andie Peterson’s third Laura Kjelstad mystery, her heroine, the beautiful, widowed, black belt, Glockcarrying Birch Bay mayor is tested to her limits.
Kjelstad was friends with Harrington, who was noted for his kindness and generosity, but when she finds Donna Scofield dead in her Superior, Wisconsin home with identical wounds to her body, she wonders if the killings, although separated by many miles, are connected. Scofield had a cabin near Birch Bay and visited the town often.
Did Tony and Donna know each other?
While the mystery deepens, Kjelstad is busy setting up a gingerbread house fundraiser at the Raspberry Point Inn owned by Gary and Molly Berg. The event is being held to generate money for nonprofits in Birch Bay. It seems the whole town is taking part, and visitors are coming in droves for the holiday celebration called, at first, The Jolly Old St. Nick Fundraiser, but the name was changed because it might offend some in town.
Two of those visitors are named Clark and Ed. They seem to know Tony, but don’t know at first that he has been killed.
Or do they?
And just what did Tony do to make all of the money he freely spent before his untimely demise?
Meanwhile Bruce Shinnler and his brother are seeking to get vengeance for Bruce’s landslide defeat to Laura in the recent mayoral race, and they start rumors and spread lies about Kjelstad on the Internet. Just what she needs as the danger deepens and questions lead to dead ends.
The local reporter, Gina, presses Kjelstad on every point. The pesky journalist pushes hard for details Kjelstad can’t give up. As the pressure and tension builds, everything seems to come to an end when a rich kid across the lake from Scofield’s cabin is caught stealing a Bible from the cabin, escaping by boat when Klejstad and the police arrive. But as he flees gunshots ring out from the woods near the cabin. With bullets flying around her, Kjelstad is in survival mode and at that time no one— including the reader—can figure out how this cliffhanger is going to end.
One caution, read this fast-paced 294-page book on a full stomach. It is filled throughout with descriptions of scones, cookies, cakes and other delicious, mouth-watering desserts, and the end of the book includes 12 Scandinavian recipes.
Peterson, herself a four-time mayor of Grand Marais, has created a fun read in these pages. Fans of Laura Kjelstad will want to pick it up, and new fans will be made when they are done reading this book.
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