November Hunt / Jess Lourey

 

November Hunt by Jess Lourey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Let's call this one 3.5 stars, shall we? Better than many books I've rated 3, but not quite a 4.

This is the penultimate book in my 2020 Book-of-the-Month reading list, the November choice. Chosen for a frivolous reason, it was a surprisingly entertaining read. Mira is a relatable main character, a young woman looking to change her life by moving to a small town in Minnesota. I'm missing some of her background, having joined in here at book number seven. But I didn't feel that I was missing any crucial information.

One of my favourite side characters is Mrs. Berns, the blunt spoken senior who seems to be Mira's BFF in Battle Lake. Unfortunately, she leaves the Minnesotan winter for Arizona for the majority of the book. She provides a good foil for Mira, who shouldn't really fit into the small community. Mira is from a big city, has given up alcohol, and doesn't eat red meat, just a few of the ways she stands out from the general population. With Mrs. Berns to “sponsor" her, she's fitting in well enough to have a job at the library and a regular column in the newspaper. She also seems to have a talent for befriending seniors and other folks who don't immediately fit in. There's also an amusing subplot concerning her hot new boyfriend--she's just been through a bad break-up and is determined not to sleep with him for 6 months.

So it's kind of a typical cozy, although those usually involve a local girl who's come back home from the big city after a break-up. The real hook is that Mira is working on getting her PI license, which is what draws her into the conflict that begins this novel.

So I find myself strangely wishing that I had started with book one, although I'm not likely to go back to it at this point. But I might be convinced to go on to the December adventure.


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