"Murder of A Small-Town Honey"

I found a new mystery author and series this weekend when I read "Murder of a Small-Town Honey" by Denise Swanson.  Denise has been a school psychologist for more than twenty years so it shouldn't come as a surprise that her heroine, Skye Denison, is also a school psychologist.  This book is the first in a new series, "A Scumble River Mystery," named for the fictional small town in Illinois where Skye was raised.

When Skye graduated from high school and delivered her high school valedictorian address twelve years ago, she made it pretty clear she never wanted to return to Scumble River -- well, maybe to visit family.  However, when her engagement is broken and her job in Louisiana develops some problems (never specifically addressed so we don't know what happened except it would be difficult for her to get a new job), she turns to an old family friend, "Uncle Charlie," who is on the Scumble River school board and voila! - Skye has a new job as school psychologist for the elementary, middle, and high schools.  Unfortunately for her there hasn't been a steady social worker or school psychologist so she has a lot of catching up to do and student files to review and much more.

You'd think that would be enough to keep Skye busy but, when she is helping out at the Chokeberry Days Festival, her problems really begin.  This year there are two factions -- one that wants to continue the annual local festival and one that does not.  The latter seems set on sabotaging this year's festival as it is beset by many catastrophes but, when Skye finds the body of a woman that has been hired to provide children's entertainment, would someone really stoop to murder to stop next year's festival?!

As if that weren't enough, Skye's brother, Vince, the local hairdresser, is suspected of the murder because his scissors were the murder weapon.  Skye's mom is one of the local police dispatchers and is convinced the police aren't looking at any other possible suspects so she begs Skye to help clear her brother by using her psychology skills to find the guilty party.

In the meantime, Vince convinces Skye to double date with he and his girlfriend, Abby.  Skye's date is to be Mike Young, who was a drug dealer when he was young, but reformed in prison earning him an early out.  He came home to Scumble River to open his own church.  The double date doesn't go well when Skye uses it to begin questioning Mike about his possible involvement with the murdered woman.

However, there is another man in Scumble River who has attracted Skye's attention -- Simon Reid, the local mortician who inherited the business when his uncle died.  After a few dates -- but reluctantly -- Simon becomes Skye's sleuthing partner.  As they begin to uncover clues, something happens that Skye's mom didn't count on -- Skye becomes a target of the murderer.  Will Simon be able to protect her and will she survive this sleuthing hobby?

This was a very well written book and I am ready for the next one in the series, "Murder of a Sweet Old Lady."  pazt