"Murder of a Snake in the Grass" Denise Swanson

Another great Skye Denison cozy. My favorite 'definition' of a cozy is one I found on Elizabeth Ludwig's blog:

"To sum up, a cozy mystery is a story with a small town feel. It involves quirky characters and an amatuer sleuth. The crime usually occurs "off stage" and it is void of the violence and gore that might be found in other genres. While an element of danger does exist, it is not the driving force behind the story. Best of all, there are plenty of clues and red herrings the reader has to sort through in order to solve the crime!"

Skye is a school psychologist in a small town in Illinois, her home town. "Snake in the Grass" is #4 in a series of (so far) 10 books. In this one Skye is still struggling to sort out her feelings for Simon and Wally. To make matters worse her ex-fiance, Luc, shows up in town hoping to win her back after he left her 2 1/2 years ago. Then when Luc becomes a murder suspect... well, I'm not going to give it away. =) I have read books 1-3 and that helps to understand some of the relationships, but I don't think it is necessary to read them all in order. Denise Swanson does a wonderful job of adding just enough background so that someone who just jumped in wouldn't feel lost. This is one of my favorite cozy series'.

Synopsis
"Skye Denison and the rest of Scumble River is celebrating it's bicentennial in style-with reenactments, a bingo tent, and a coal-tossing contest. Best of all, the guest of honor is the town founder's great-great-grandnephew, Gabriel Scumble. But his visit turns out to be short-lived when he is found dead. The murder weapon: a pickax."

I've now moved on to "Heart-Shaped Box" by Joe Hill.