Jessica Lourey | Murder by Month Mysteries

May Day

1st in the Murder by Month Romcom Mysteries

A waitress turned librarian just wants a new life. What she ends up with is a killer change of pace in a funny, snappy, and suspenseful mystery by Edgar Award–nominated author Jess Lourey.

With a cheating boyfriend, a thankless career in waitressing, and her BA in English going to waste, Mira James jumps at the chance for a fresh start in rural Battle Lake, Minnesota.

Right away she lands a job as a librarian, snags another as an on-call reporter for the weekly newspaper, and is swept off her feet by Jeff Wilson, a handsome archaeologist unearthing the town’s storied history. Moving here might be the best decision Mira’s ever made. Until she finds Jeff’s body between the library’s reference stacks. It seems Mira didn’t really know her drop-dead gorgeous new lover at all. But someone in Otter Tail County surely did.

Behind this quirky town’s polite exterior are decades-old grudges still unsettled, and murderous secrets best kept hidden. Whatever dangers are buried in Battle Lake’s past, now it’s Mira’s turn to start digging.

✨Mira James Battle Lake Book Club

Mira James/Battle Lake swag:
-Unisex t-shirt
-Women's t-shirt

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"What a romp this is! I found myself laughing out loud..." ―Crimespree Magazine

"May Day starts the action rolling with a clever mystery and some snappy writing . . . These pages are filled with fresh dialogue!" ―In the Library

"Meet this witty heroine in Lourey's engaging new series." ―Mystery Scene Magazine

June Bug

2nd in the Murder by Month Romcom Mysteries

A summertime treasure hunt in rural Minnesota leads to murder in this delightful gem of a rom-com mystery by Edgar Award–nominated author Jess Lourey.

Summer in Battle Lake kicks off with fireworks and festivities, but it’s a local treasure hunt that’s amping up the tourist trade. It certainly piques the interest of part-time reporter Mira James—both as fodder for a column and because she could use the five grand in prize money.

The treasure? A faux diamond hidden at the bottom of Whiskey Lake. When Mira takes a deep dive in search of it, rather than finding the planted jewel, she uncovers a legendary puzzle reaching back nearly seventy years. But fishing for answers puts her face-to-face with a suspicious new arrival: a creeper from her past up to his old menacing ways.

When murder turns a hot June night into a scorcher, Mira realizes there are more mysteries hidden in this town than fake gems, and to solve them, she has to stay alive.

Mira James/Battle Lake swag:
-Unisex t-shirt
-Women's t-shirt

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"Jess Lourey offers up a funny, well written, engaging story...readers will thoroughly enjoy the well-paced ride." ―Carl Brookins, author of The Case of the Greedy Lawyers

Knee High by the Fourth of July

3rd in the Murder by Month Romcom Mysteries

Independence Day comes with fireworks, a budding romance, and hometown murder in this sharp and witty mystery by Edgar Award–nominated author Jess Lourey.

When Fourth of July weekend coincides with Wenonga Days—the annual celebration of a locally famous Ojibwe leader—the town of Battle Lake double-dips on the tourist trade. This year the hullabaloo hasn’t even started and there’s already a story for reporter Mira James.

The Chief Wenonga statue has disappeared, leaving behind drops of human blood and a big question for Mira: How and why would anyone steal a twenty-three-foot monument? Things go from curious to worse when a local man is kidnapped. And from worse to downright gruesome when a corpse is found in the lakeside cabin of a horticultural hottie Mira’s been crushing on from afar.

Mira has no choice but to trail a statue thief, find a missing person, and clear an earthy dreamboat’s name from a murder charge. Not to mention risk her own life to unmask a cold-blooded killer.

PRAISE for Knee High by the Fourth of July

⭐ Finalist for The Lefty Award for Best Humorous Mystery
⭐ Chosen as a Killer Book by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association

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"Knee High by the Fourth of July kept me hooked from beginning to end. I enjoyed every page!" ―Sammi Carter, author of the Candy Shop Mysteries

"[The] humor...makes for a delightful romp." ―Fergus Falls Journal

August Moon

4th in the Murder by Month Mysteries

There’s nothing like a harvest party, a book ban, and a shocking murder to keep a plucky librarian distracted in this funny and suspenseful mystery by Edgar Award–nominated author Jess Lourey.

Mira James has had it up to here with Battle Lake, Minnesota. After her latest romantic prospects go bust, she’s ready to move back to the Twin Cities and get a lapful of cats. Funny how murder can stall the best-laid plans.

Days before the August Moon Festival, high school cheerleader Lucy Lebowski, Mira’s library assistant and an all-around sweetheart, is murdered. Mira’s investigation begins with the (not so) blessed flock of the New Millennium Bible Camp, its creepy pastor, his secretly wayward daughter, and the congregation of glassy-eyed Stepford wives. They all certainly have it in for Mira and her damnable books. But Lucy, too?

If there’s one thing Mira’s learned, it’s that Battle Lake is full of secrets and grudges that somehow always end with a bang. Before she ditches this town for good, Mira is hell-bent on finding justice for Lucy—heaven help her.

Mira James/Battle Lake swag:
-Unisex t-shirt
-Women's t-shirt

Amazon IndieBound Barnes & Noble Order a Signed Copy Target

"A refreshingly strong heroine steps into the role of detective in this scorching summer mystery."

Seattle Press Online

"Another amusing tale set in the town full of over-the-top zanies who've endeared themselves to the engaging Mira."

Kirkus Reviews

September Mourn

5th Murder by Month Mystery

A festive fairground becomes an unexpected backdrop for a grade A murder in a deliciously funny mystery by Edgar Award–nominated author Jess Lourey.

The Minnesota State Fair wows again with 4-H exhibits, rides, a Neil Diamond concert, and deep-fried everything on a stick. Covering it is a breezy assignment as fluffy as cotton candy for reporter Mira James, until the main attraction becomes murder.

Ashley Pederson, crowned Milkfed Mary, Queen of the Dairy, is getting her all-American likeness carved in a block of unsalted butter when she drops dead, her face as red as a stoplight. Cause: malicious poisoning. Despite Ashley’s creamy good looks, her reputation was pretty rancid. Still, who’d want to take out the soon-to-be college freshman and Battle Lake resident? Mira’s made a vow to the dairy darling’s grieving mother to find out.

Amid queenly competitors, rumors of sordid love affairs and embezzlement scandals, small-town secrets, and big business cover-ups, can Mira find the murderer on the Midway? You bet your corn dog she can.

Mira James/Battle Lake swag:
-Unisex t-shirt
-Women's t-shirt

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"...murder, mayhem, and merriment!"

Booklist, starred review

October Fest

6th in the Mira James Romcom Mysteries

Beer and polka music reign supreme at Octoberfest, Battle Lake's premier fall festival. To kick off the celebrations, the town hosts a public debate between the two congressional candidates: straight-laced Arnold Swydecker, and slippery incumbent, Sarah Glokkmann. As a reporter for the Battle Lake Recall, Mira James is roped into writing up the word war. But the festive mood sours when a well-known Glokkmann-bashing blogger is found dead . . . and the congresswoman herself meets a gruesome fate.

To keep the heat off her best friend's fiancé—an ex-con reporter—Mira wades through the candidates' dirty laundry, their unsavory secrets, and some murderous mudslinging to expose the killer.

Read an Excerpt (PDF)

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"Snappy jokes...edgy dialogue...clever plot. Get started on this Lefty-nominated series if you've previously missed it!"

Library Journal
(starred review)

November Hunt

7th in the Mira James Romcom Mysteries

November in Battle Lake, Minnesota, is cold enough to freeze the balls off a pool table.

lt's also deer hunting season. When Tom Kicker is killed in a hunting accident, Mira James is hired to investigate—a job that brings her closer to a P.I. license. Braving subzero temps and shrieking blizzards, Mira uncovers a decades-old scandal that has never quite died, unlike the cold stiffs who are piling up in the town morgue. As she pieces together the clues, Mira discovers that Battle Lake's good-old boys have been up to some bad business. But with threats and enemies around every icy corner, she may not live long enough to expose the truth.

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"It's not easy to make people laugh while they're on the edge of their seats, but Lourey pulls it off, while her vivid descriptions of a brutal Minnesota winter will make readers shiver in the seventh book in her very clever Murder-of-the-Month series."

Booklist
(starred review)

December Dread

8th in the Mira James Romcom Mysteries

With Christmas just over a week away, ’tis the season for grinning sales elves on TV, maddeningly jolly Muzak, and a guilty Nut Goodie addiction.

But for Mira James and other Battle Lake-area women, the holidays are marred by something far worse—a serial killer leaving candy canes as his calling card. His target? Thirty-something brunettes who look just like Mira.

When a woman from her high school graduating class becomes his latest victim, Mira plows through a case of online dating turned deadly with Mrs. Berns at her side. Will she earn her detective stripes . . . or end up deader than the Ghost of Christmas Past?

*Shortlisted for Lefty Award for Best Humorous Mystery

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“Lourey, who keeps her secrets well, delivers a breathtaking finale.”

Publishers Weekly

January Thaw

9th in the Mira James Romcom Mysteries

Private-eye-in-training Mira James loves Minnesota’s crisp January days, as long as she can spend them in the arms of hunky Johnny Leeson. But when Mrs. Berns’s erratic Zamboni driving uncovers an icebound dead man, Mira’s cold-weather tranquility threatens to melt away.

With a frozen body in the lake and a freak January thaw descending on town, neither Johnny nor generous portions of high-octane comfort food are enough to ease Mira’s frazzled nerves. There’s big trouble brewing in Battle Lake. And if Mira can’t figure out who’s behind it, the next time she feels sub-zero temperatures, she may be sporting a toe tag in the town morgue.

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"Fans of small-town mysteries will be charmed..."

Publishers Weekly

February Fever

10th in the Mira James Romcom Mysteries

All aboard the Murder Express...

Mira James’s hot and heavy relationship with Johnny Leeson is definitely warming up her winter. But when Johnny has to travel to Portland, Oregon, for a month-long internship, airplane-averse Mira lets Mrs. Berns talk her into a visit.

On the plus side, Mira can make the trip a tax write-off by attending the International Private Investigator Conference. On the down side, Mrs. Berns books them—much to Mira’s dismay—on the Valentine Train, a place for singles to mix and mingle.

After a few glasses of champagne and Mrs. Berns’ encouragement, Mira begins to relax and enjoy herself…until a fellow passenger is murdered and a snowstorm traps the train in the Rockies. If Mira can’t track down the killer, she may end up derailed—permanently.

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“Lourey skillfully mixes humor and suspense...and the mile-a-minute pace never falters. Another excellent addition to Lourey’s very entertaining Murder-by-Month Mystery series.”

Booklist (starred review)

March of Crimes

11th in the Mira James Romcom Mysteries

Ida Gilbertson of the Battle Lake Senior Sunset nursing home has a new hobby: crafting life-sized dolls and displaying them around town. Budding PI Mira James finds the dolls creepy enough on their own, but when she’s forced to sit next to one and discovers a human corpse under the hat and wig, it becomes personal.

Police Chief Gary Wohnt is all too eager to pin the blame on Mira. So when her sleuthing gives him the perfect excuse to lock her up, it’s up to Mayor Kennie Rogers and Mrs. Berns to help her out. Racing against the clock, Mira must unmask the murderer before she either becomes a jailbird or the next dolled up victim.

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"Packed with charmingly ridiculous characters, I laughed my way through this small town mystery." --BookRiot

April Fools

12th in the Mira James Romcom Mysteries

After eleven straight months of discovering a dead body a month, librarian Mira James thinks she’s finally broken her bad luck streak. That is until she finds a disturbing note in a book, a clue that could lead to breaking open one of Minnesota’s biggest crime syndicates.

She follows the trail and is horrified to discover that it leads to her father, who died 13 years earlier. To make matters worse, Mira catches wind that her sexy Adonis boyfriend, Johnny, is planning a surprise for her. Problem is, she doesn’t know if it’s a marriage proposal or an intervention.

As Mrs. Berns and Mira take on their final case together, Mira discovers it’s more personal than she could have imagined, and that she holds the fates of her dearest friends in her hands.

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Monday Is Murder

A Murder by Month Romcom Mystery Novella

✨How much can go wrong in a single Monday? PI-in-training Mira James is about to find out. ✨

Big city gal Mira James is finally settling into itty bitty Battle Lake. Sure, there’s that pesky dead-body-a-month hitch, and her hunky musician boyfriend has begun receiving mysterious late-night texts. The fact that her problematic ex-boyfriend seems to be tailing her doesn’t help, either.

But Mira is determined to ignore all that for one day so she can focus on the December wedding of two dear friends. She's succeeding, too, until Kennie Rogers, Battle Lake mayor and frenemy extraordinaire, is kidnapped right in front of her eyes by a murderous Santa Claus.

Ho-ho-ho-oh-no! Can Mira save Kennie (and her relationship) before the slay bells ring…for good? Find out in this 124-page Murder by Month romcom novella featuring all your Battle Lake favorites.

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Murder by Month Mysteries

Hilarious romcom cozies for fans of Janet Evanovich

May Day

June Bug

Knee High by the Fourth of July