After a bad first marriage, Daisy re-finds Jake, her high-school boyfriend, and they decide to marry. Daisy falls in love with a wonderful 150 year old house in Moose River, Minnesota, and they move in with their four children, ages 8-14. Jake isn't quite as enamored with the house, and defrosting the frozen kitchen pipe is not a chore he relishes. When Daisy crawls into the crawl space with a hair dryer, she is determined to get the pipes working, but her discovery of a dead body definitely stalls the process.
Shelby builds his characters well, and I enjoyed following this family as they try to deal with one problem after another. We get to know each member and want to see them all succeed. The dead body was a man Daisy had dated before Jake, and it seems obvious that someone is setting her up to look guilty. The police begin to suspect her, and the family finds the town becoming less and less friendly. Daisy believes that she must find the real murderer to clear her name, and goes against Jake's advice to do so.
The relationships in this novel show real affection, the setting is an interesting one and the supporting characters helped to make the story more entertaining. This book is definitely written in a different style than Shelby's Joe Tyler series. I found it a fun mystery to try to solve and recommend it to those looking for a light and well constructed mystery.
- Beverly
Publisher - Amazon Digital Services LLC
Date of Publication - May 6, 2014