Board Stiff by Annelise Ryan is the fifth book in the “Mattie Winston” mystery series. Publisher: Kensington, March 2014

Sorenson, Wisconsin’s deputy coroner Mattie Winston is back on the job. . .in a nursing home examining the body of Bernie Chase—the now former president of the Twilight Home’s board of directors—who is covered in a powder used to turn liquids to solids. The home’s residents are certain Bernie was offing the patients who cost him too much. . .and the patient that found him can’t remember a thing.

Between her ongoing tug of war with Detective Hurley, fulfilling her new job requirement of seeing a shrink, and wrangling with the Twilight Home’s board of directors, Mattie’s got her scrubbed hands full. She’ll need all of her outside-the-box forensic skills to crack a case that’s turning out to be stranger—and more dangerous—than anything she’s seen before!

Mattie is back and nothing is going right with her personal and professional life. Getting her job back, of course, results in her and Hurley investigating the murder at the local nursing home. This was a good murder mystery that quickly became a page turner with some surprising twists that I didn’t see coming, especially when the killer was revealed. I love watching Hurley and Mattie together and I hope they can resolve the obstacles that interferes with their relationship. I love the tone and comfortable feel of this light drama and with the ending the author left us with, I can’t wait to see what happens next in this enjoyably entertaining series.