Homemaker: A Prairie Nightingale Mystery

In this witty series launch from Knox and Mare (Everyone I Kissed Since You Got Famous, as Mae Marvel), divorced mom Prairie Nightingale becomes a gumshoe in Green Bay, Wis. Prairie has long struggled to mind her own business: while picking up her 11-year-old daughter from school, for example, she gives the side-eye to a parent with a $900 handbag and a busted tail light. When her former friend Lisa Radcliffe disappears, Prairie employs this “talent at vital pattern recognition,” as she calls it, to look into the matter. Along the way, she uncovers neighborhood secrets and crimes—including murder—that may be connected to Lisa’s disappearance. She’s aided by her former mother-in-law, Joyce, with whom she remains close, and her best friend, Marian, who knows everyone in town. Over the course of their investigation, the group also meets hunky FBI agent Foster Rosemae, who admires Prairie’s ability to charm/coerce information out of her neighbors, even if it means overstepping some boundaries. The plot may not break much new ground, but Prairie is a lovably eccentric protagonist, and her first adventure goes down easy. Cozy fans will be satisfied. Agents: (for Knox) Pamela Harty, Knight Agency; (for Mare) Tara Gelsomino, One Track Literary. (June)