A. E. Howe is writing a series of books, one for each month of the year.  The series began with November’s Past, so this is the 6th in the series.  The books follow Larry Macklin, a criminal investigator for the Sheriff’s Department in rural Florida .  Larry’s boss, the sheriff, is also his father. I have enjoyed the first 6 books and think that each one gets better and better.

I would consider these books to be cozy mysteries.  They are easy to read, but full of fun characters (even the sheriff who has a great Dane named Mauser that is always in trouble) and interesting criminals.  I appreciate the fact that Howe’s female characters are strong, intelligent women. Solving the crimes is not too easy for the reader which I really enjoy and rural Florida allows for a variety of settings.  These books do have the violence of a crime scene but are not gruesome. The stories center much more around solving the crime than the crime itself.

In April’s Desire Larry finds himself in the middle of two separate murders during his incumbent father’s re-election campaign.  Both murders have the possibility of becoming politically volatile for the election. He and his partner Darlene need to solve both murders as fast as they can so that they do not become an issue and the sheriff’s department doesn’t look bad in the eyes of the community.  There are twists and turns throughout the novel that keep you interested and involved. These books are great light, interesting, and suspenseful reads!