may day

Title: may day

Author: Jess Lourey

Publisher: Midnight Ink

Copyright Date: 2006

Print Date: March 2006

Pages: 209

ISBN: 0738708380

Series: 1st in the Murder by Month Mystery series

Book Description (from back cover):

Minneapolitan Mira James has been taking it easy since college graduation — too easy. Eager to leave behind a dead-end job and a cheating boyfriend, Mira packs up her cat and begins a new life in rural Battle Lake, Minnesota. Landing jobs as an assistant librarian and part-time reporter, she falls into an unexpected romance with a guy who seems to be the perfect man — until he turns up dead between the reference stacks.

Determined to learn more about the man who had briefly stolen her heart, Mira delves into the hidden mysteries of Battle Lake, including a old land deed with ancient Ojibwe secrets, an octogenarian crowd with freaky social lives, and a handful of thirtysomething high school buddies who hold bitter, decades-old grudges. Mira soon discovers that untold secrets are concealed under the polite exterior of this quirky small town — and revenge is a tator-tot hotdish best served cold.

Comments:

A nice read. Mostly. I mean, the guy Mira falls for is the murder victim (a spoiler only if you didn't read the cover synopsis), so that throws a bit of a wrench in the HEA* =( , but otherwise...

I will read more by this author/of this series (this is the first in a series, the next 4 have already been published, so I just have to see if they're available at the local library...).

I almost forgot... the main thing that kinda bothered me (other than the aforementioned identity of dead guy), is the way librarianship is portrayed. I may be somewhat sensitive because it was so easy for Mira to get a job as assistant librarian while I can't even get a minimum wage page position (let alone something more in line with my degree). But. Mira acts like this is NOT a job she really cares for, just something she's doing to get by while she revisits living the rural life. A living during an extention of the not-really-going-anywhere part of her life. That's what my current job is to me, not a library job. =/

NOTE: *I want Happily Ever Afters in all books I read. Of course, I don't always get them, but I can hope...