Review: Imogene Museum Mysteries by Jerusha Jones

Platts Landing, Washington, in the Columbia River Gorge—small town, breathtaking scenery, and impossibly nosy neighbors. But Meredith Morehouse, reformed city girl and curator of the eclectic Imogene Museum, is learning to live with it. Even though just about everyone, including Sheriff Marge Stettler, has impertinent suggestions about how well she should get to know hunky tugboat captain Pete Sills.

I will preface this by saying I have not read the final in the series, but here is a brief synopsis of each:

Rock Bottom: missing grad student, chamber pots, dope crop

Doubled Up: murdered ex-fiance, strange masks, gold, burglars

Sight Shot: family secrets, the re-emergence of the eyeball from book 1 (read book 1)

Tin Foil: bombs, old ordinance, a new friend, death of a cougar

Faux Reel: ghastly painting of a fish, a hollywood crew, the mob, a legacy uncovered

Shift Burn: firebugs, gun-running, murder

Stray Narrow: a murder, a secret witness, a crime exhibition

Okay - so definitely cozy mysteries that can be read in one sitting - but that doesn't detract from any reading pleasure. The setting is picturesque, the characters quirky and at times fallible, the mysteries engaging, the heroine likeable, and some scenes humourous.

What I enjoyed was the story telling, the authenticity of characters, the wonderful settings, the community of characters, and how each story seamlessly followed on from the one previous.

Jerusha herself says of her characters: " It’s my goal that you will never think the main characters make bad decisions—that you would’ve made the same decisions in the circumstances." And of her view of law enforcement officers portrayed in cosy mysteriues: " Incompetent law enforcement officers is the trope common in the cozy mystery genre that I dislike the most." - and I agree with her there!

This is a great series - and I intend to revisit the earlier books again before tracking down number seven.

Now having said that, Sockeye County Mystery Series: "This new Sockeye County series has given me the chance to expand on the cast of characters from the Imogene Museum series, develop them in more depth in the context of their community and give you a peek inside the heads of many of them. Also, I think the tone may be more lighthearted and frisky. But there’s still definitely a mystery, and I’m having loads of fun incorporating actual local news stories (fictionalized, of course) into the plot. Crazy things that only (but really, truly) happen in the country…"

So look out for this series as well.