September Mourn

Reporter Mira James expects an easy job covering the Minnesota State Fair, with its 4-H exhibits, rides, a Neil Diamond concert and deep-fried food on a stick. The assignment seems as light as cotton candy until the fair's main attraction turns into a murder.

Ashley Pederson, crowned Milkfed Mary, Queen of the Dairy, is having her likeness carved in a block of unsalted butter when she drops dead with her face as red as a stoplight. The cause is deliberate poisoning. Ashley was a soon-to-be college freshman from Battle Lake, and her looks were as creamy as her reputation was rancid. Mira has promised Ashley's grieving mother that she will find out who would want her dead.

Her search leads through rival dairy queens, rumors of sordid love affairs, embezzlement scandals, small-town secrets and big-business cover-ups. The question is whether Mira can find the killer on the Midway.

This comic mystery is by Edgar Award-nominated author Jess Lourey and belongs to her Murder-by-Month series. This edition includes editorial revisions.