Murder Grins and Bears It (A Gertie Johnson Backwoods Adventure)

(first published in 2007) On opening day of bear hunting season in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a game warden is murdered right under Little Donny's tree stand. Little Donny disappears into the backwoods, forcing sixty-six-year-old Gertie to use her "unique" investigative techniques to find her favorite grandson. Gertie's search is hampered by her pin-curled bodyguard Kitty, her man-hungry friend Cora Mae, and Grandma Johnson-who should be mushing peas between her new false teeth in the Escanaba nursing home instead of setting up camp at Gertie's place. To top it off, Gertie's son Blaze, the local sheriff, seems more concerned with arresting his mom for cruising down Highway M35 without a driver's license than finding Little Donny or catching the killer. Praise for the series: "Laugh-out-loud funny" Crimespree Magazine "Fans of Janet Evanovich, imagine Grandma Mazur with a shotgun." Green Bay Press Gazette "One of the most memorable heroines in recent crime fiction." Lansing State Journal