Review: Gertie and Friends lighten up my life
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 29, 2014
The Gertie Johnson mysteries are fun and quick to read.  The characters are easy,, easy to like - a little outrageous but not so much as to not be believable.  The setting is the upper peninsula of Michigan (UP as the locals call it) and the politics and views of personal rights are certainly different than mine, but Deb Baker does a good job of making it feel okay to like guns and mistrust the government if one lives in the U P.  The murdered victim is usually not a "good guy" so the reader doesn't get caught up in mourning the victim.  Gertie has two partners who assist her in the solving of the crime - very different from each other but, like Gertie, very likeable.  There is even a love interest for Gertie - her next door neighbor, George (Gertie is a widow and dearly loved her husband) but this love interest is very secondary to the plot (thank goodness).  I read these books when I am tired of the hard-core mysteries and when my life needs a smile and maybe even a laugh out loud.