Review: Missing the humor found in previous books
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 25, 2014
When authors write under multiple names, I never really know who they are.  Is Jeff Shelby really Jeffrey Allen or vice versa.  By the way, do not bother looking for author webpages because, if you can find them, they are seriously out of date.I found Jeffrey Allen through his Deuce Winters Stay at Home Dead series and loving the humor there I was excited to see a new series under the pen name of Jeff Shelby.  Thinking that the first had run its contracted course and the author was branching out with a new series I dove right in.  Bad decision.  The humor that I associated with the first was not present in the second.  The quick pace and quirky characters did not exist in this new book and when it came to the “who done it”, it was somewhat obvious from the beginning.  The why part, that was forced, but when you begin with a dead body in a coal chute in an old house in the middle of a Minnesota winter you have to go somewhere.Small towns being what they are, jump to the conclusion that Daisy Savage must have killed the man that they found in her home since she had a single date with him years ago.  It seemed logical to all those concerned, including the sister and the ex-wife of the deceased and just about everyone in Daisy’s homeschooling co-op who was at fault.  What was not considered was that Olaf Stunderson (I know, how much more Minnesota cliché can you get) barely made a blip on Daisy’s radar.  To save her reputation and to allow her children to participate in the co-op classes, Daisy must find the answers since the Moose River Police consider her a prime suspect.Not sure if this falls under the traditional definitions of a cozy mystery, but I would still classify it as such.  It has most of the plot points and twists needed and most readers will find it charming in the right spots.