#bookreview: THE BODY IN THE WETLANDS by Judi Lynn

Ciao, amici! Happy Tuesday. I have another review for you. Not long ago, I read, thoroughly enjoyed, and reviewed Judi Lynn’s cozy mystery, The Body in the Attic. You can read that post here.

Today, I have the pleasure of discussing its sequel, The Body in the Wetlands.

Blurb:

High summer in River Bluffs, Indiana, is always sweltering and sweet. But the heat is really on when a decidedly dead body turns up in the neighborhood.

When established house flippers Jazzi Zanders and her cousin Jerod donate a week’s worth of remodeling work to Jazzi’s sister Olivia, they’re expecting nothing more than back-breaking roofing work and cold beers at the end of each long, hot day. With Jazzi’s live-in boyfriend and partner Ansel on the team, it promises to be a quick break before starting their next big project—until Leo, an elderly neighbor of Olivia’s, unexpectedly goes missing . . .

When the friendly senior’s dog tugs Jazzi and the guys toward the wetlands beyond Olivia’s neighborhood, they stumble across a decomposing corpse—and a lot of questions. With Jazzi’s pal Detective Gaff along to investigate, Jazzi finds her hands full of a whole new mystery instead of the usual hammer and nails. And this time it will take some sophisticated sleuthing to track down the culprit of the deadly crime—before the killer turns on her next . . .

---

My Review:

★★★★☆ A Great Continuation

This is the second book by Judi Lynn that I’ve had the pleasure of reading. When I learned there was a sequel to The Body in the Attic, I had to read it. I knew if it was half as good as the first one, I’d love it. And when I saw a dog on the cover, I was hooked.

The story lived up to all my expectations. And then some.

We’re once again visiting characters we know and love, and they’re once again rehabbing a home. That’s a familiar world to me, and I was happy to enter it again. I could smell the wood stain, hear the power tools, feel the heat of the day reflecting off the shingles. The author did an excellent job of bringing the setting to life.

But it’s definitely the characters that kept me turning the pages.

Jazzi is a no-nonsense heroine. Her somewhat-rough exterior is tempered by her soft and caring core. I enjoyed watching her character arc, as she had some emotional hurdles to jump in this story. Meanwhile, she was the driving force in the plot.

Cozy mysteries aren’t violent or scary, but there were moments I got a skitter up my spine. Judi Lynn seamlessly wove that element of suspense into a whodunit plot full of suspects and red herrings. It was so much fun trying to solve the crime before the reveal.

I suspect there will be a third book, and I sincerely hope there is. This one ticked all the right boxes for me and has me clamoring for more.

Amazon Link