Tessa Treslow returns from service to New Oslo, Idaho, population 852. This first day she feels displaced in the one-pickup town. Her family welcomes her, but she feels ready to move on to somewhere bigger. Then a dead body is discovered, and her fighting instincts are engaged. WELCOME HOME TO MURDER is an apt description.
There are two stories in one running through this well-drawn scenario. Tessa’s parents and aunt are her only relatives, and she has a boxer dog, Vince. Sadly, she lost her fiancé while he was deployed. Therefore, her family's general store and her Aunt Edna’s repair garage mean a lot to her. Tessa learned to be a mechanic in this garage and enjoys the work. A dead man lying under the vehicle in the repair bay is not what she expected. He was Augustus ‘Auggie’ Toat - described as a con man, maybe with a better side to him, but out to claim an inheritance which he has probably faked. This would, if true, give him a stake in the store and garage until someone killed him. The sheriff is Tessa's ex-boyfriend, who dropped her when she enlisted. This lost him the respect of Tessa’s family, but now he’s the sheriff, so they have to deal with him.
The second story looks at veterans of today’s U.S. Army. A Lieutenant Colonel, after 24 years of service, might expect to marry, start a family, and walk into a prestigious office job. But if that officer is a woman, her days to find the best partner and have children are likely over. And there are no prestigious jobs in New Oslo. The challenges facing Tessa include mental distress and the expectation by others that she will have PTSD and behave angrily. She meets some other veterans, who assure her she is not alone.
I enjoyed reading about the thinly populated location, with its nearby big town of Moscow and occasional wandering moose on the roads. When everyone literally knows everyone, newcomers cause speculation and returnees are out of sync with life. Change is slow to find tiny towns, the vehicles get older every year, seniors lose their cellphones, and resources for policing are limited. No wonder Tessa sees her options dwindling in WELCOME HOME TO MURDER. Even the town trollop has kids, alimony and a new ring on her finger. Tessa only has a pension.
Rosalie Spielman tells us she served in the Army and was an Army wife and mom for two decades. What she doesn’t know about women in the forces would hardly be worth knowing. I hope to return to the excellent Hometown Mystery series as long as this lady keeps writing them.
From author Rosalie Spielman comes a heartfelt cozy mystery that proves sometimes coming home again can be murder...
Tessa Treslow never wanted a small town life. As soon as she graduated high school, she happily escaped her tiny town to join the U.S. Army, leaving New Oslo, Idaho, population 852, firmly behind her. Twenty years later, the hometown hero is finally ready to come back—even if she has just a visit with loved ones in mind while her family is hoping to convince her to stay for good.
With her fawn boxer dog, Vince, in tow, Tessa falls into the unsettlingly familiar small town life, helping out in her family's general store and her feisty Aunt Edna's auto body shop. But her peaceful homecoming is suddenly shattered when the dead body of a crooked con man turns up in her aunt's shop, and the police have some serious questions for the family. To make matters worse, the sheriff in charge just happens to be Tessa's ex-boyfriend... and things did not end well between them all those years ago. When it comes out that the con man was trying to get his hands on the family business, Tessa knows they're in trouble.
With her family in danger of being dragged away in handcuffs, Tessa becomes a woman on a mission to find the con man's killer. Between a slew of suspects, a meandering moose, and a handsome newcomer with his eye on Tessa, she has her work cut out for her. But when the killer changes tactics—putting everything her family holds dear in jeopardy—Tessa begins to realize what home really means to her. Can she be the hero for her hometown once again... before it's too late?
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