Meet Isabel Puddles, Paperback

The only thing widow Isabel Puddles loves as much as her hometown of Gull Harbor on the shores of Lake Michigan is cozying up to a good mystery--but she never expected to be caught in the middle of one...

To the tourists and summer residents, Kentwater County is a picturesque community of small-town charm, fruitful farmland, and gorgeous freshwater beaches. To middle-aged widow Isabel Puddles, it's where she enjoys breakfast every morning at a local caf with her childhood best friend and spends her evenings cozying up with a good book and her devoted Jack Terrier, Jackpot. In between, Isabel makes ends meet through a variety of trades--preserving pickles, baking pies, working the counter at her cousin's hardware shop, and occasionally helping fix-up the hair of corpses at the local funeral parlor.

When Isabel discovers a two-inch nail embedded in the skull of Earl Jonasson, it seems the octogenarian may not have died of a stroke. His son is quickly arrested when his alibi doesn't check out. But Isabel has known Earl Jr. since they were kids and can't believe he'd murder his own father, regardless of his financial difficulties. As gossip about Earl Sr.'s land and insurance policy money starts to spread around the county, Isabel finds herself conducting her own investigation to clear her friend's name. But real detective work isn't like Jessica Fletcher's Murder She Wrote mysteries, and she's meeting dangerous suspects who don't like Isabel poking around in their business...

About author(s):M.V. Byrne was born and raised in Lansing, and much like the heroine of his Mitten State Mystery Series, his family has had a home on Lake Michigan for nearly 100 years. He has an extensive career in television, first working at NBC on shows including Today, The David Letterman Show and Saturday Night Live, and later writing for Mysteries & Scandals on E! Entertainment, Behind the Music at Vh1, The Tyra Banks Show, Good Morning America and Nancy Grace, to name a few. He currently lives in Los Angeles, where he continues to work as a writer/producer in unscripted television, but still goes back to his home state of Michigan every summer. He can be found online MVByrne.com