Isabel Puddles Investigates

by M.V. Byrne

Overview

Sure to enchant fans of Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegone tales, the second Mitten State Mystery by veteran television writer M.V. Byrne finds senior sleuth and Jill-of-all-trades Isabel Puddles investigating a deadly mystery among Rust Belt royalty in the cozy town of Gull Harbor, Michigan…

“Too late” isn’t a factor for Isabel Puddles—until the clock starts ticking on a deadly mystery in the cozy town of Gull Harbor, Michigan...

Isabel is living life on her terms as summer stirs the peaceful shores of Lake Michigan. Only slowing down to meet her oldest friend for daily coffee, the newly licensed PI has found herself chipping away at the college degree she never completed—and, to her surprise, eagerly awaiting letters from her pen pal, an admired British mystery writer. But when her latest client turns out to be an extravagant recluse who’s rich both in secrets and money, Isabel becomes embroiled in the strange world of Rust Belt royalty and the Memorial Day Weekend disappearance of a handsome young heir.

Beyond the famous family name and ugly rumors surrounding her, Abigail Bachmeier is an enigma. With one great nephew presumed dead after vanishing off the side of a ferry, Abigail makes the strange request to locate another missing relative. As Isabel investigates and gets closer to revealing at least one more possible murder, she begins to suspect yet another life could soon be in terrible danger—her own.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496728333
Publisher:	Kensington
Publication date:	11/30/2021
Series:	A Mitten State Mystery , #2
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	494,355
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

M.V. Byrne was born in East Lansing, Michigan and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, although he spent his summers on Lake Michigan with family. He later returned to East Lansing to attend Michigan State University. After years of living in both NYC and LA, he has settled in LA full time where he continues to work as a writer/producer in unscripted TV, though he can now add the job title of “Author” to his resume. He’s currently working on the next Isabel Puddles Mystery. He can be found online at MVByrne.com.

Editorial Reviews

10/25/2021

Isabel Puddles, formerly a hairdresser in Gull Harbor, Mich., takes on her first case as a licensed PI in Byrne's cute if padded sequel to 2020's Meet Isabel Puddles. When Randolph "Trey" Bachmeier III, who has "the reputation of being an entitled and arrogant playboy," disappears from a Great Lakes ferry before reaching Gull Harbor, his reclusive beer heiress aunt, Abigail Bachmeier, hires Isabel to investigate. While Isabel is still searching for Trey, Abigail asks her to find yet another missing relative. What Isabel discovers suggests the possibility that "three generations of Bachmeier men had all been murdered." Some endearing characters and the appealing setting compensate in part for the many digressions, such as the chapter devoted to a jilting Abigail suffered 50 years earlier. This is a good fit for Murder She Wrote fans. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

2021-09-01
Now that she’s solved a murder, a novice detective thinks she’s ready for the big time.

Isabel Puddles loves her family home, her dogs, her grown children, and her lifelong friendship with acerbic bestie Frances. Though she still works part time at her cousin’s hardware store, she’s given up her other side gigs to return to college and study criminology. The hot news is the disappearance of the heir to the Bachmeier beer fortune from a Lake Michigan ferry. So Isabel assumes that when she's summoned to Miss Abigail Bachmeier's estate for a meeting, it’s because Abigail wants her to investigate. Gull Harbor has long been a summer residence for the wealthy, and rumors have abounded about the eccentric Abigail. Isabel finds Abigail charming but coldly uninterested in the possible death of the nephew she despised. Instead, after signing a nondisclosure agreement, Isabel is hired to find the son of Abigail’s late and equally despicable brother, who fathered a child but refused to marry the mother. Abigail’s own father helped support the boy until his mother cut all ties and vanished. On top of that, the volatile Frances, at first convinced that her husband is having an affair, grows even more furious when she learns that he’s accepted a promotion that requires moving without even asking her. The tricky mystery leads Isabel to new friendships and the realization that detection might not be her thing after all.

A mellow mystery, down-home characters, and touches of humor add up to a very pleasant read.

Kirkus Reviews