Minnesota, 1977. For the teens of one close-knit community, summer means late-night swimming parties at the quarry, the county fair, and venturing into the tunnels beneath the city. But for two best friends, it's not all fun and games. Heather and Brenda have a secret. Something they saw in the dark. Something they can't forget. They've decided to never tell a soul. But their vow is tested when their friend disappears--the second girl to vanish in a week. And yet the authorities are reluctant to investigate. Heather is terrified that the missing girls are connected to what she and Brenda stumbled upon that night. Desperately searching for answers on her own, she learns that no one in her community is who they seem to be. Not the police, not the boys she met at the quarry, not even her parents. But she can't stop digging because she knows those girls are in danger. She also knows she's next.
Hunting season exposes deadly secrets in a briskly chilling rom-com mystery from Amazon Charts bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated author Jess Lourey.It's cold enough to freeze a shadow when Battle Lake local Tom Kicker braves the killer temps to bag a deer--only to get shot to death by his best buddy, Clive, in a hunting accident. Tragic, yes. Accident? Mira James, just a few weeks into working toward her PI license, isn't so convinced.Neither is Tom's daughter, who urges Mira to investigate. Why would a forty-year friendship come to a dead end on a frost-scorched landscape? Then Mira uncovers a decades-old scandal that suggests the town's good old boys were up to some very bad business. Secret by buried secret, Mira is getting closer to solving the mystery.In the meantime, she has sweet and sexy Johnny Leeson to keep her warm. Unfortunately, hunting season isn't over in Battle Lake, and Mira is next in the crosshairs.Revised edition: This edition of November Hunt includes editorial revisions.
What's October without a festive mood, a chill in the air, and a dead body? There's big trouble brewing in little Battle Lake in this Lefty-nominated mystery from Amazon Charts bestselling author Jess Lourey.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.Mired to her neck in deadly mudslinging, it's up to Mira to sort through a pile of the candidates' dirty laundry and expose a killer who's giving her the pre-Halloween jitters, all while managing mixed messages from local hottie Johnny Leeson. Who knew the political season could be so scary?Revised edition: This edition of October Fest includes editorial revisions.
Everybody's got to have a hobby. But some pastimes hide murder in a delightfully crafty rom-com mystery by Amazon Charts bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated author Jess Lourey.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.They plan to bust Mira out and clear her name. Bad news, though: a bizarrely motivated killer is still on the loose and can't wait to see Mira all dolled up--to death.Revised edition: This edition of March of Crimes includes editorial revisions.
All aboard. It's murder on the Valentine Train in a heart-racing mystery from Amazon Charts bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated author Jess Lourey.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.When a winter storm brings the train to a dead stop in the Rockies, Mira discovers that a woman in the next cabin has been murdered, and her husband and child have vanished. Rumors of an escaped convict do nothing to ease the passengers' frazzled nerves. To Mira, every one of them is a suspect.Trapped in a snowbound train with only two people she can trust, Mira has to solve a baffling disappearance and track down a killer--if she isn't derailed herself. Permanently.Revised edition: This edition of February Fever includes editorial revisions.
Two disappearances and a murder. The mystery couldn't be more personal in a witty and twisty rom-com caper from Amazon Charts bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated author Jess Lourey.After a year in Battle Lake, Minnesota, aspiring PI Mira James would kill not to stumble over another dead body. Given her latest discovery, though, it isn't looking good.An ominous note hidden in an old book not only mentions Battle Lake's former librarian, who vanished into thin air, but also Mira's own father, who died thirteen years ago. The word "HELP" scrawled at the top is even more unnerving. But who's in danger? And why?As if the note isn't mystery enough, a girl's sudden disappearance adds another case to Mira's plate. To solve them both, Mira--and all of Battle Lake--must navigate deadly threats and a few surprises she never saw coming.Revised edition: This edition of April Fools includes editorial revisions.
Revised edition: This edition of September Mourn includes editorial revisions.
There's nothing like a harvest party, a book ban, and a shocking murder to keep a plucky librarian distracted in this funny and suspenseful mystery by Edgar Award-nominated author Jess Lourey.Mira James has had it up to here with Battle Lake, Minnesota. After her latest romantic prospects go bust, she's ready to move back to the Twin Cities and get a lapful of cats. Funny how murder can stall the best-laid plans.Days before the August Moon Festival, high school cheerleader Lucy Lebowski, Mira's library assistant and an all-around sweetheart, is murdered. Mira's investigation begins with the (not so) blessed flock of the New Millennium Bible Camp, its creepy pastor, his secretly wayward daughter, and the congregation of glassy-eyed Stepford wives. They all certainly have it in for Mira and her damnable books. But Lucy, too?If there's one thing Mira's learned, it's that Battle Lake is full of secrets and grudges that somehow always end with a bang. Before she ditches this town for good, Mira is hell-bent on finding justice for Lucy--heaven help her.Revised edition: This edition of August Moon includes editorial revisions.
The discovery of a frozen stiff reveals old buried secrets in a witty and invigorating mystery from Amazon Charts bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated author Jess Lourey.It may be six below zero, but an ice-skating jaunt gets even more chilling for private investigator in training Mira James. She's just locked eyes with a frozen corpse floating under a sheet of ice.The man, a curious transient who's been researching local history, also rescued Mira and her best friend from a mugging the night before. His death is no accident, but it is a mystery. To solve it, Mira follows a trail leading to the alleged haunting of a historic museum and a centuries-old tragedy that has yet to claim its final victim.With a killer on the loose amid a freakish winter thaw, Mira is on thin ice. If she doesn't watch her back, she could be the next one to go under.Revised edition: This edition of January Thaw includes editorial revisions.
Going home for the holidays can be murder in a bracing mystery by Amazon Charts bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated author Jess Lourey.After more than a decade away, Mira James isn't keen on returning to her Minnesota hometown for the holidays. Her childhood memories aren't particularly jolly. Even less festive is the news of a serial killer on the loose.With only ten shopping days till Christmas, the Candy Cane Killer has been very busy slashing through the snow. Eager to earn her official PI stripes, Mira is anxious to track him down. But when the latest victim is a woman from her high school graduating class, the investigation hits a little too close to home.Even worse? Mira has good reason to fear that she's next. To stop a killer in his tracks, she may have to start digging into the ghosts of her own Christmas past.Revised edition: This edition of December Dread includes editorial revisions.
Independence Day comes with fireworks, a budding romance, and hometown murder in this sharp and witty mystery by Edgar Award-nominated author Jess Lourey.When Fourth of July weekend coincides with Wenonga Days--the annual celebration of a locally famous Ojibwe leader--the town of Battle Lake double-dips on the tourist trade. This year the hullabaloo hasn't even started and there's already a story for reporter Mira James.The Chief Wenonga statue has disappeared, leaving behind drops of human blood and a big question for Mira: How and why would anyone steal a twenty-three-foot monument? Things go from curious to worse when a local man is kidnapped. And from worse to downright gruesome when a corpse is found in the lakeside cabin of a horticultural hottie Mira's been crushing on from afar.Mira has no choice but to trail a statue thief, find a missing person, and clear an earthy dreamboat's name from a murder charge. Not to mention risk her own life to unmask a cold-blooded killer.Revised edition: This edition of Knee High by the Fourth of July includes editorial revisions.
A waitress turned librarian just wants a new life. What she ends up with is a killer change of pace in a funny, snappy, and suspenseful mystery by Edgar Award-nominated author Jess Lourey.With a cheating boyfriend, a thankless career in waitressing, and her BA in English going to waste, Mira James jumps at the chance for a fresh start in rural Battle Lake, Minnesota.Right away she lands a job as a librarian, snags another as an on-call reporter for the weekly newspaper, and is swept off her feet by Jeff Wilson, a handsome archaeologist unearthing the town's storied history. Moving here might be the best decision Mira's ever made. Until she finds Jeff's body between the library's reference stacks. It seems Mira didn't really know her drop-dead gorgeous new lover at all. But someone in Otter Tail County surely did.Behind this quirky town's polite exterior are decades-old grudges still unsettled, and murderous secrets best kept hidden. Whatever dangers are buried in Battle Lake's past, now it's Mira's turn to start digging.Revised edition: This edition of May Day includes editorial revisions.
A genius FBI code breaker unravels the mysteries of one of history's most monumental puzzles in a propulsive thriller by Jess Lourey, the Edgar Award-nominated author of Salem's Cipher.Working for the FBI, cryptanalyst and agoraphobe Salem Wiley vows never to return to the conspiratorial underworld her mother revealed to her. Until fieldwork draws Salem to an Ireland farm where a curious discovery has been unearthed: a near-perfect replica of Stonehenge in miniature--except for one extra stone engraved with the word mercy.When seven-year-old Mercy Mayfair, a child in Salem's family's care, is kidnapped, Salem knows it's more than an unsettling coincidence. Mercy's centuries-old lineage holds the key to understanding the greatest Neolithic mystery of the ages. A dangerously patriarchal society, just as ancient, will kill to solve it.As Salem follows a serpentine trail of clues and ciphers, the clock is ticking and her fears are escalating. Because the only way to save Mercy is for Salem to crack the unbreakable code of Stonehenge first.Revised edition: This edition of Mercy's Chase includes editorial revisions.
A brilliant code breaker shatters a centuries-old conspiracy and unravels her own family secrets in an addictive and heart-pounding thriller by Edgar Award-nominated author Jess Lourey.Salem Wiley is a genius cryptanalyst. She's also a loner who prefers a safe and familiar path. Until her mother disappears in the wake of a brutal murder, leaving behind a cryptic warning of threats to come. Forced out of her safe zone, Salem embarks with her best friend, Bel, on a dangerous quest that reaches back centuries into America's hidden history.Drawn into a labyrinth of messages encrypted by Emily Dickinson and hidden in the legendary Beale Cipher, Salem discovers her mother's double life--and the truth. An ancient and ruthless society is hell-bent on ruling the world, and only a select group of hunted women stands in its way.Now Salem must follow a cross-country trail of clues in a desperate bid to unravel the conspiracy, which threatens not only the present but the very course of history.Revised edition: This edition of Salem's Cipher includes editorial revisions.
"In 1998 an Alku, Minnesota, family of five was brutally murdered in their sleep. The event shook the insulated community but, without any solid leads, was relegated to the cold case files, where it moldered for twenty-five years. Until today. Agent Harry Steinbeck hoped never to return to the northland, a place that holds terrible memories of his sister's abduction. But when a recent homicide is connected to Alku's unsolved mass murder, he and cold case agent Evangeline Reed have no choice but to investigate. The case grows impossibly darker as, one by one, the children of Alku begin disappearing. And Harry and Van can't shake the sensation that someone is watching every move they make. As an elusive killer's trail leads to a truth more sinister than either imagined, Harry knows there's only one way to crack this case: he must finally face the secrets of his own past--even if doing so will cost him everything"--
John Wick meets The Giver in this post-apocalyptic teen survival young adult novel from bestselling author Jess Lourey.
Summer 1980: Despite the local superstition that the Bendy Man haunts the woods, three girls go into a Minnesota forest. Only one comes out, dead silent, her memory gone. The mystery of the Taken Ones captures the nation. Summer 2022: Cold case detective Van Reed and forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck are assigned a disturbing homicide--a woman buried alive, clutching a heart charm necklace belonging to one of the vanished girls. Van follows her gut. Harry trusts in facts. They're both desperate to catch a killer before he kills again. They have something else in common: each has ties to the original case in ways they're reluctant to share. As Van and Harry connect the crimes of the past and the present, Van struggles with memories of her own nightmarish childhood--and the fear that uncovering the truth of the Taken Ones will lead her down a path from which she, too, may never return.
This hilarious and heartwarming story of a controlling dragon is a perfect soother for little children going through some big changes. Claudette the dragon knows what's best for everyone: what food they should eat, what clothes they should wear, and even where they can color. You know what else? She's not afraid to tell them. Being bossy makes her feel safe and smart, two of her favorite things. But what happens when she realizes she's not in charge of anyone but herself?Have your crayons ready so you can help her to find out!Teacher and bestselling author Jess Lourey's endearing, beautifully-illustrated tale reminds us that as much as we want to hoard our treasure and tell others what to do-especially when life is feeling uncertain and maybe a little bit scary-things are more fun when we raise each other up. It's the first in a series of story books that empowers children to be creative participants in what they're reading.PSSST! Person buying the book: if you let a child draw inside these lush pages against Claudette's demands, it becomes a sweet keepsake. If you own the digital version, or your pages are already full of gorgeous drawings, or, like Claudette, you have control issues (it's okay! we're all a work in progress), your little reader can draw on paper instead. In any case, have markers, colored pencils, or crayons at the ready as this book is meant to be a one-of-a kind, interactive giggle-fest centered on compassion and play.**Leave My Book Alone! makes a wonderful gift, especially when paired with a fresh new box of crayons.**
Γ¡É How much can go wrong in a single Monday? PI-in-training Mira James is about to find out. Γ¡ÉBig city gal Mira James is finally settling into itty bitty Battle Lake. Sure, there''s that pesky dead-body-a-month hitch, and her hunky musician boyfriend has begun receiving mysterious late-night texts. The fact that her problematic ex seems to be tailing her doesn''t help, either.But Mira is determined to ignore all that for one day so she can focus on the December wedding of two dear friends. She''s succeeding, too, until Kennie Rogers, Battle Lake mayor and frenemy extraordinaire, is kidnapped right in front of her eyes by a murderous Santa Claus.Ho-ho-ho-oh-no! Can Mira save Kennie (and her relationship) before the slay bells ring...for good? Find out in this 124-page Murder by Month romcom novella featuring all your Battle Lake favorites.PRAISE FOR THE MURDER BY MONTH ROMCOM MYSTERIESΓ¡É "Lourey skillfully mixes humor and suspense . . . the characters are wonderful and wacky, and the mile-a-minute pace never falters." ΓÇòBooklist (starred review)Γ¡É "Get started on this Lefty-nominated series if you''ve previously missed it!" ΓÇòLibrary Journal (starred review)Γ¡É Jess Lourey named to Book Riot''s "10 Funny Mystery Authors Like Janet Evanovich" list! Γ¡É
In the summer of 1984, 14-year-old Frankie Jubilee is sent to live with her estranged mother in the small Minnesota town of Litani. The locals whisper about "The Game," her mother warns her to stay out of the woods and away from adults, and Frankie begins to wonder if she living among monsters, even in the bright light of day.
From the Amazing Charts bestselling author of Unspeakable Things, Bloodline, and Litani comes a gripping paranormal mystery featuring four generations of Catalain women battling the curse that threatens to destroy their already-divided family.Katrine Catalain returns from London, broken and bereft, her life there destroyed. She finds Faith Falls just as she left it, a snug little Minnesota town constructed over a mystery, a place where the most impressive building is the gorgeous Victorian mansion she calls home.The Catalain women have always had an uneasy truce with the people of Faith Falls, but Katrine's return brings all the bad blood to the surface, dredging up secrets, bitter curses, and more than one unexplained murder. The Catalain women must find a way to make peace with their past or lose everything that's ever mattered to them.This lush, intoxicating tale weaves together fear, love, mystery, and magic. Read this thrilling Amazon bestseller today! If you'd like to spend more time with the Catalain women, check out Seven Daughters, a Catalain novella."[T]ightly plotted, and Lourey shines when depicting relationships¿romantic ones as well as tangled links between Catalains...." ¿Kirkus Reviews"Lourey expertly concocts a Gothic fusion of long-held secrets, melancholy, and resolve..." ¿Publishers Weekly"Think Alice Hoffman...spell-binding!" ¿Midwest Book Review
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