Dead Loudmouth: A Loon Lake Mystery

In Houston’s amiable 16th mystery set in Loon Lake, Wis. (after 2015’s Dead Rapunzel), police chief Lewellyn “Lew” Ferris and her small team must deal with a big crime. Joyce Harmon, a janitor at a so-called gentlemen’s club, Buddy’s Place, alerts the police after she discovers two entwined naked bodies atop a piano suspended from the high ceiling. At Buddy’s, Lew and her retired dentist boyfriend, Doc Osborne, and expert tracker Ray Pradt quickly establish that the victims—whom Joyce identifies as club owner Chet Wright and stripper Tiffany Niedermeier—were murdered. Interviews with Ty Wallis, the manager of the exclusive Deer Creek Fishing and Hunting Preserve; stripper Nina Krezminski; and Wright’s estranged wife, Karen, show that Wright was scamming several members of Deer Creek. Meanwhile, Osborne’s 11-year-old granddaughter, Mason, goes missing on a fishing outing. Houston combines a likable cast with a serviceable plot. Agent: Martha Millard, Sterling Lord Literistic. (June)