This post is part of an original series created by librarians/media specialists across Central Minnesota featuring books.

Title: May Day by Jess Lourey
Review by: Angie Gentile-Jordan, Office Administrator at CMLE

Our event on May 5th featured a talk from author and professor Jess Lourey. Before the event, in an attempt to familiarize myself with her work, I began reading May Day, the first in her popular Murder-by-Month series.

The book is about assistant librarian Mira James, who moves to the small town of Battle Lake, MN from the big city of Minneapolis as a way to get a fresh start on her post-grad life. As she settles in, she encounters many characters that will be familiar to readers that have spent any amount of time in small-town Minnesota.

All seems to be going well for Mira. She even begins casually dating an archaeologist visiting the town on business. But when his lifeless body shows up (she stumbles across it in the library, no less!) Mira decides to find some answers.

I enjoyed reading this book for several reasons: the tone was light and clever, and I could picture many of the scenes playing out in northern Minnesota. I liked the way Mira bluffed her way through conversations about fishing to gain trust with the locals, throwing out words like “pan fish” not having any idea what it meant.

I’ve already purchased the next in the series, June Bug, and am looking forward to reading it from the boat while doing a little pan fishing of my own!