MADELINE MANN

A journalist adds sleuthing to her job description when a childhood friend is murdered.

Madeline “Madman” Mann, a reporter in Webley, Ill., is annoyed with her teacher boyfriend Jack and her family, who she feels are trying to control her life. So she’s ripe for the adventure offered when her old friend Logan Lanford disappears just as he’s about to make his debut with her brother Fritz’s band. Recently fired from his job with the mayor’s office, where Maddy’s mother works, Logan has left his wife and two children in the lurch. One place to start looking is Saugatuck, Mich., where his pal Quinn Paley lives. So does Wick, Logan’s dad, long divorced from Logan’s anxious mother. Maddy and Jack arrive at the cottage Logan’s using just as a car pulls out of the driveway, leaving Logan’s corpse inside. Despite warnings from everyone from Jack to the police to keep her nose out of the case, Maddy uses her reporting skills to dig up reasons why someone might want Logan dead. Though her investigations reveal that Logan was carrying on numerous affairs, her favorite suspects are Webley’s smarmy mayor, whom Logan may have blackmailed, and his sleazy assistant. Now all she has to do is figure out who did the deed before she becomes the next casualty.

In her bright debut, Maddy is a welcome addition to the cozy scene.