A Dark and Stormy Murder, published in 2016, is book one in the Writer's Apprentice Mystery series. There are currently five books in the series.
A Dark and Stormy Murder starts out with Lena London moving to Blue Lake, Indiana to work as the assistant to suspense novelist, Camilla Graham. Camilla provides Lena with room and board and an apparently hefty salary. I liked that they discussed salary on page. I don't think I've ever seen that occur in a cozy mystery. I also liked seeing Lena actually do her job. With some cozy mysteries, I'm left wondering how the amateur sleuth is able to make ends meet while seeming only to snoop, but I didn't have to wonder with Lena. Camilla also allows Lena to bring her cat, Lestrade, who soon becomes friends with Camilla's German Shepherds, Rochester and Heathcliff, making them an instant family of five. I think my most favorite thing about cozy mysteries is the almost certain presence of pets, and A Dark and Stormy Murder doesn't disappoint in that respect.
There are actually two mysteries in A Dark and Stormy Murder. First there's the main mystery of who killed Martin Jonas on Camilla's property. Then there's the secondary mystery of what happened to the wife of Sam West, Camilla's grumpy neighbor. Lena and Sam have a rocky first meeting but soon they are exchanging friendly banter, which I enjoyed. Everyone in town seems to think Sam killed his wife, but Lena can't imagine that to be true. Then she discovers a dead body near the lake and begins to snoop.
In the process of snooping, Lena encounters Detective Doug Heller, hidden rooms, and a couple of red herrings. Ultimately, the identity of the killer comes down to a name. However, even with the killer caught, A Dark and Stormy Murder does not wrap up tidily because Sam's wife still has not been located. I suppose I'll have to read book two to discover what happened to her, which I think was very clever of the author.
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