Dead Firefly: A Loon Lake Mystery

In Houston’s agreeable 18th Loon Lake mystery (after 2017’s Dead Spider), Loon Lake, Wis., police chief Lewellyn “Lew” Ferris faces a number of interrelated challenges. First, someone is cutting down and stealing groves of birch trees from private land, including her own. Second, Lorraine Gropengeiser, Lew’s elderly former mother-in-law, has been scammed out of her house and land. Third, Lew’s lover, retired dentist Paul “Doc” Osborne, is worried about fellow AA member Chuck Pelletier. Chuck has told Doc that his new wife, Patti, and developer Gordon Maxwell are trying to kill him. When Doc discovers Chuck lying dead on the floor in an old barn Chuck used as a retreat, Lew has a murder case on her hands. An empty whiskey bottle next to the body suggests Chuck was drinking, but Doc is sure his friend didn’t touch a drop. Justice proves elusive as the three investigative strands converge on an unexpectedly poetic ending. Fans of regional mysteries will find plenty to like. [em]Agent: Martha Millard, Sterling Lord Literistic. (June) [/em]