Buffalo Bill's Defunct: A Latouche County Mystery

I was a fan of Simonson's previous "Lark" series. This series is even better. It is set in a small town, in a rural county of Washington State, an area with much natural beauty. In this book, the first in what I hope will be a long series, the heroine, Meg, moves into her new home, only to uncover a corpse buried in a hidey hole in the garage floor. Two more murders follow as Meg, deputized by the dishy detective next door, uses her skills as a librarian to help uncover the facts. Theft of Native American artifacts and the involvement of the local tribe complicate matters. Great read!

The pairing of a Sheriff's chief investigator and a librarian makes for an odd combination in more ways than one. But when it works, as it does in this engaging novel, there's nothing to complain about. Sheriff's investigator Rob Neill has been haunted by his lack of success in solving his first case, the theft of sacred objects of the Klalo tribe from the western end of the Columbia River Gorge. Meg McLean has just been hired as the head librarian of the small town in which he works and lives. She buys a house next door to Rob and they develop a close working relationship--and then some. A body is discovered buried in her garage, setting off a chain of events that brings Meg and Bob together (in more ways than one). Her information-retrieval skills prove useful in an investigation that grows as two more murders take place. The author lives in Vancouver, WA, and the descriptions of the area in the book reflect her appreciation of the region. Written in a smooth style, the story progresses logically toward a suspenseful conclusion. Recommended.

I discovered the book through a recommendation on the Seattle Public Library's website listing of newly published mysteries set in Washington State and found it a delightful read. The mystery is good--holds together quite well. The protagonist is interested in the murders since one body was found in the garage of the home she has just moved into. She does not try to solve the mystery or get in the way of the police. She is deputized (almost on a dare) and ends up involved by helping to organize and classify books and papers, check resources on the web (after all, she is a librarian), and almost ends up getting shot when she innocently goes to see a local lake and ends of being held at gunpoint by a suspect. The characters show more depth than many first mysteries, and I look forward to seeing them develop more in future books in this series. I enjoyed having local cultural issues of the Native Americans interwoven in this story and seeing the deputy's sensitivity in dealing with them.

After a 10-year hiatus to take care of her elderly parents, Sheila Simonson is back with a new series. Fans of her "Lark Dodge" series (LARKSPUR,SKYLARK, MUDLARK, MEADOWLARK, MALARKEY) will welcome the new protagonist and storyline. Meg McLean, a 40-ish librarian, has packed up her life and her belongings to move from Southern California to Klalo, a small town on the Columbia River Gorge. When she settles in, she will report for her new job as head librarian of the regional library. Her next-door neighbor is called upon to help her get her moving van unhooked. Rob Neill is a sheriff's investigator, and the sensitive, silent type. (Think Henry Fonda in "My Darling Clementine.") He arranges for a couple of deputies to help Meg unload, and what should they find but a body stuffed into a hidey-hole in the garage. Klalo is a small town. Neighbors live cheek by jowl and tend to show up without knocking first. Anyone could have got into the garage. When the body is identified as that of a young Klalo Indian boy, enter Madeline, chief of the Klalo, a formidable woman with a network of spies tracking a 10-year-old crime involving stolen petroglyphs. As Rob says, "Madeline ought to be in charge of Homeland Security." This is a traditional mystery, finely wrought. The story moves along at a comfortable pace, with a bit of romance to spice things up. The story turns on the theft of Indian artifacts and Madeline's determination to find and recover them, but it's Meg who figures out who is hiding them, and why. BUFFALO BILL'S DEFUNCT is a witty, satisfying read. Pat Browning Author of FULL CIRCLE