Murder of a Barbie and Ken

Most people would probably say that I am not the target audience for Denise Swanson's Scumble River Mystery series. It is a cozy mystery series about a 30-something school psychologist in a small town in rural Illinois. This doesn't seem to be a book series that should fit into the preferred genre zone of a 38 year old heterosexual dude who loves professional wrestling, noir novels, and comic books. Yet, here I am, 5 books into the series, and fully committed.

Honestly, a good portion of my love of these novels is that they are full of stealth feminism. The protagonist, Skye Denison, is often making comments about her town's sexist attitudes towards her gender. And, as somebody who was born in a town that is about the size of Scumble River, I feel her pain every step of the way. The fact that this novel also addresses the evil that are multi-level marketing schemes makes me even happier.

Seriously, this series is one of my favorite things I've discovered in the past year, along with Chelsea Cain's Archie Sheridan/Susan Ward novels, and I owe the recommendations for both of them to my amazing partner, Liz.