Although I guessed the killer within the first fifty pages of Kirsten Weiss’ Deja Moo, the third in the Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum Mystery series was worth reading. The likable team of sleuths, along with the paranormal museum added up to a fun story.
Maddie Koslowski’s reliable truck broke down, so she didn’t make it to the thirty-foot straw Christmas Cow display to help her mother guard it. She missed the four gingerbread men and Santa Claus who attacked the cow with flaming arrows. But, she and sexy police detective Jason Slate arrive in time to discover a body. The president of the San Benedetto Dairy Association is dead, with an arrow in his chest. And, Leo, Maddie’s employee at the Paranormal Museum, filmed the entire event. It’s too bad the killer was in costume.
With Maddie’s mother in protective custody, it’s up to her to ask enough questions to protect her mom and find a killer. But, it’s the busy season at the museum with plenty of customers to see the haunted Christmas displays. That includes the haunted cowbells from Sweden that arrived when the Dairy Association and Ladies Aid brought the tradition of the Christmas Cow to the small community. Now, the town is in a panic, with stories of the “cursed” cowbells. Maddie’s determined to protect her mother and save her museum’s business. But, when Slate is injured, pushing Maddie out of the way when a car aims at her, it’s up to Maddie and a small group of her mother’s quirky friends to find out who is behind the rumors and a murder.
I loved Maddie, her mother, and the other characters in this humorous cozy. The confrontational ending was marvelous. My only problems with the book were probably ones of proofreading because I read an Advanced Reader’s Copy. Several key points were missing in my copy, ones that were crucial to the story. It felt as if they had been overlooked in the editing process.
Despite the editing issues, Deja Moo is exactly was a cozy mystery should be, the story of a community split by a murder, and the amateur sleuths who work to restore that feeling of unity.
Kirsten Weiss’ website is www.kirstenweiss.com
Deja Moo by Kirsten Weiss. Midnight Ink, 2018. ISBN 9780738750361 (paperback), 360p.
*****
FTC Full Disclosure – I received the book to review for a journal.
