Bücher veröffentlicht von Midwestern Books

Join Jane for another quirky, humorous misadventure as she and Sheriff Rick lock horns in investigating another murder in See Jane Dance!, the third book of the cozy West River mysteries.It's New Year's Day in the small town of Little Missouri, South Dakota, and Jane's year is already off to an eventful start. She begins the day with the discovery of a body, setting off a murder investigation that will test the limits of her courage. Soon she's juggling not only murder, but also the addition of four squirmy kindergarteners to her lively country school classroom. Thanks to weekly square dance lessons paid for by her mother, the town switchboard operator, and the school janitor in an effort to kick-start her romantic life, she's also fending off eligible bachelors right and left. As the snow piles up and the town gossip hits a feverish pitch, Jane and the sheriff must race against time to find a killer who's dancing too close for comfort.¿¿¿¿¿¿¿"Like a snowflake in a blizzard, See Jane Dance!, which is set in the midst of winter cold and chaos, finds a way to be both precious and unique. With wry humor, Jolene Stratton Philo offers readers the small South Dakota town of Little Missouri, populated by oddballs and lovables, who, when murder comes calling, find themselves dealing with a lot more than just their usual winter doldrums. I found myself smiling often at Philo's take on small town politics and social mores and laughing out loud at some of the outrageous shenanigans of the citizens of Little Missouri. This is a delightful read, perfect for those who like their mysteries on the soft-boiled side and who maybe wish that Agatha Christie had chosen to set at least one of her stories against the backdrop of the High Plains."William Kent KruegerNew York Times bestselling author of This Tender Land, Ordinary Grace, and the Cork O'Connor mysteries.

You may not believe my story, and I don't care if you do. I know what happened and what we found out in that forbidden room. Disaster struck in the summer of 1965 when, like a migrating goose, my wackadoodle Great Aunt Polly arrived from New Mexico with her signature eye patch matching the enormous turquoise muumuu barely stretching over her bulk. Mom assigned Kitty and me as indentured servants to help Aunt Polly at her ancient crumbling mansion on Lake Minnetonka. We spent weeks cooking, cleaning, and prying Aunt Polly out of her beater of a car.We hoped the hunky Minnetonka guys living next door would be interested enough in two sheltered girls from south Minneapolis to make the summer enjoyable. Fat chance! Aunt Polly's rules were endless. How could she expect us to obey them all? "Stay out of that room!" she said about the house's one locked door. Stay out? Right! Kitty and I took it as an invitation to investigate.Don't you agree that, under the circumstances, disobedience was our duty? Not only did we find a way to be neighborly with the dudes next door. Our search for keys to that forbidden room unlocked family secrets from decades ago.So, we found out just how far we could push Aunt Polly. Who knew she had a hunting rifle?Take advantage of this chance to fulfill your secret wish to visit the 1960s. Buy my coming-of-age story. I promise it will make you giggle, cringe, squirm, and gasp. Stay Out of That Room is Book 1 in the House of Girls series based on the crazy adventures of a family with eight daughters.

It is 1977, and 21-year-old amateur sleuth, Jane Newell, plans to seize life and make it her own as soon as she can get her VW Beetle out of the ditch. Having just graduated from a Midwestern college in elementary education, Jane accepted a teaching position in the small rustic town of Little Missouri, South Dakota. However, she's not the only subject of local gossip. Round the Bend Bar and Café buzzes with talk of a recent tragedy-a hit and run murder that left one of her new students without a mother and the whole community restless for answers.Jane's nose for misadventure pulls her into a humorous tale of mystery among the zany characters surrounding her-from neighbor Merle Laird and his prize cow Snippy to the glitter-hating school janitor, Velma. Amidst the scenic wonder of this quirky little corner of western South Dakota, she begins her new life knowing that someone close to her was undoubtedly a killer, and she is determined to find out who it is.

Wheaton, South Dakota, doesn't seem like the place to reverse the downward spiral of Josh Cooper's life. A drunk driver killed his brother two years ago. His parents' fighting escalated until his father moved out. Now his parents are moving to Wheaton to help his grandfather run his farm as if somehow this will save their marriage. The distance from the suburbs of Portland, Oregon, to the little Midwestern farmhouse was a lot further than showed on the U-haul odometer. Gravel roads, a small-town high school, and farm life were radical enough. Still, a series of paranormal dreams transport Joshua to the distant past and a parallel life with an ancient family identical to his own. Except that his brother is alive. As the threat of imperial invasion grows, Joshua tries to reconcile how a girl in his new high school also appears in his ancient household. In the present, she helps him gain a place in his new life through basketball. In the past, they share the impending disaster of being conquered by a heartless enemy. Through it all, Joshua searches for the hope to carry him into a future worth living."Thoughtful, heartwarming, relatable to life, and just a downright good story, Cosmic Background Radiation weaves a tale of learning to cope with immense grief into an even greater tapestry of the stories that make us human. The pulse of creation suggested by the title lends a heartbeat to this book that keeps the reader turning page after page to see how pains, fears, and struggles, great and small, yield to love, hope, and redemption as a young man wrestles with life's big questions in his own life, and in an unforgettable journey to the past." ~Adam Presler - Teacher and Assistant Wrestling Coach - Jefferson High School