Booklist Review
Loon Lake is a typically sleepy Wisconsin resort town--except for its per-capita homicide rate, which rivals that of Baghdad. A young woman is found dead beneath a wealthy vacationer's houseboat, and another local is discovered bludgeoned to death in her living room. Police Chief Lewellyn Lew Ferris is hard pressed to investigate both with her limited staff, and enlists Doc Osborne, her sometime lover, retired dentist, ad-hoc coroner, and occasional deputy, to help solve the apparently unrelated deaths. With the local citizenry chipping in as needed, Lew and Doc soon have a dozen looted bank accounts as a possible motive and a pair of slick strangers who may provide a thread to connect the killings. Fans of small-town mysteries--such as Bill Crider's Texas-based Dan Rhodes capers--will find the eighth entry in the Loon Lake series a likable change of pace from some of the more grisly whodunits populating the best-seller lists. Houston populates her little burg with two engaging protagonists and a steady stream of mildly eccentric townies as she leisurely moves a clever plot toward a suspenseful and satisfying conclusion. --Wes Lukowsky Copyright 2007 Booklist