April Fools by Jess Loury is the 12th book in the “Mira James” mystery series. Publisher: Toadhouse Books, coming April 1, 2019.

Librarian Mira James has discovered at least one corpse a month for each of the eleven months she’s lived in Battle Lake, Minnesota. With spring arriving, she hopes to dear Gold that she’s finally broken her ghoulish streak.

Then she finds that disturbing note.

She follows the note’s trail and is horrified to discover that it leads to her father, who died 13 years earlier in a drunk driving crash that killed innocents. To make matters worse, chiseled police chief Gary Wohnt is scrutinizing her every move, aching to finally put her behind bars. And the cherry on this crap sundae? Mira discovers that her sexy Adonis boyfriend, Johnny, is planning a grand surprise for her. Problem is, she doesn’t know if it’s a marriage proposal or an intervention.

As Mrs. Berns and Mira take on their final case together, Mira discovers it’s more personal than she could have imagined, and that she holds not only the life of the vanished girl but the fate of all Battle Lake in her hands.

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This is truly one of the best books and my favorite in this delightfully endearing series. I laughed at the antics of Mira and Mrs. Berns. Who else can take two women at opposite ends of their life and pair them into a dynamic duo? Well, Jess Lourey did and I’m so glad.

This fast-paced and action-packed drama had me completely immersed in all that was happening from the first page to and ending worth waiting for in the final entre in the series. This was a well-written and finely-tuned mystery that quickly became a page turner as I could not put this book down.

The author did a great job in telling a story that encompasses a variety of emotions from laugh out loud laughing to suspense to worried concerns to tension to justice and to all is right with the world. A cryptic note sends Mira on a chase, especially when young teens are missing and it appears that some heavy hitters are involved and meanwhile, there’s a little bump in the road in her relationship with Johnny. All the key characters played pivotal roles in this drama that enhanced how well this tale was being told. There were some surprises in store for us along the way, one that put a smile on my face. Again, this was a great read and I’ll miss Mira, Mrs. Berns and the residents of Battle Lake, Minnesota.

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FTC Full Disclosure – I received a digital ARC of this book from the author.