The Moth Came Back: Native Prairie Mysteries, Book One

Ratzlaff debuts with an impressive whodunit that combines solid prose, a winning lead, and plausible amateur sleuthing. Carmen Karlaff and her family have been farming native grass and wildflowers in Minnesota for decades. She’s recently begun to expand the business, but those plans are put on hold when an unidentified corpse with a fatal gunshot wound is found in one of her fields. Given the site’s remote location, Carmen suspects it was chosen by someone to carry out a drug deal. The local sheriff has different theories, however, and investigates whether Carmen or one of her employees could be the killer. Carmen receives another shock when the murder victim is finally identified as Matthew Golding, the older brother of her best friend, Jessica. Matthew fled the area 20 years earlier, after he left a cyclist partially paralyzed in a drunk driving accident. Once the sheriff homes in on Jessica as his prime suspect, believing she killed her brother to get his share of the family inheritance, Carmen sets out to clear her friend’s name. Ratzlaff never lets the plot twists supersede her patient scene-setting and fully fleshed characterizations. This series is off to a promising start. (July)