Except for the annoying titles, these books are actually a lot of fun. They
take place in Loon Lake, Wisconsin–somewhere up there north of Wausau and
in the vicinity of a bunch of tourist towns catering to fishing and hunting
each in its own season. After spending a week a summer for nearly all of my
45 years in the northern part of either Wisconsin or Minnesota, I have come
to the conclusion that folks who name lakes have a limited vocabulary. The
list goes like this: Sand Lake, Stone Lake, Loon Lake, Deer Lake, Moose
Lake, Wolf Lake, Timber Lake, Pine Lake, Goose Lake etc etc etc. Sometimes,
they got fancy and tossed a Native American name in there which you have to
be a local to pronounce. Try Chequamaghon on the tongue. It’s pronounced,
stay with me here, sha-KWA-ma-gun. Actually, I cheated. That’s a National
Forest. Sissibagama is the lake we stay on when we go. We call it Big Siss
so as not to confuse it with it’s neighbor, Little Sissibagama, known as
Little Siss.

Anyway, the books were lots of fun, especially when read on a lake with
loons calling on the water. The local retired dentist, Paul Osborne, meets
the Chief of Police, Lew Ferris when the local bait shop owner sets up fly
fishing lessons for him. Lew is a healthy, attractive and
very opinionated woman who can outfish him in a heartbeat and who uses
fishing as relaxation from the rigors and stresses of running a police
department on a short budget amidst a well-entrenched good-ole-boys network.
Osborne’s wife died a couple years back and he’s looking for a hobby.
Fly fishing fits the bill. So when he discovers a body during their first
lesson, she instantly deputizes him to do a forensic dental exam on the
victim. Thankfully, he did forensic dental work in Korea. And apparently,
nothing grosses him out since he’s digging his ungloved hands into a mouth
that’s been dead and in the water for a couple days. Plus, he’s a marvel
because he recognizes the teeth even though all the gold has been drilled
out after death. That happened a couple times thru the series and I kept
wondering if MY dentist would know my teeth just by looking at them without
the chart and face to match.

The whole series goes from there. Osborne has a neighbor who is apparently
good looking, intelligent, full of heart and who refuses to work at legal
occupations but is a dynamite poacher and tracker/field guide. Oh, and he
leaves messes of panfish at the local convent in return for excellent fried
chicken and potato salad so he’s gotta be ok if the nuns like him. He wears
a trademark hat with a stuffed trout sitting crosswise on it. And we find
out more and more about what a crummy marriage Osborne had with his dead
wife as he starts falling in love with the Chief of Police who is a good ten
years younger than he is and causes him no end of angst about whether he is
worthy.

The series is totally entertaining in a mindless way, especially if you
enjoy the silly stuff she writes about. I especially enjoyed it since she
fills it full of local Wisconsin color that is instantly recognizable if you
live in the state. Somehow, the light hearted tone and the small town
eccentrics reminded me a little of Mitford. She even tosses in a Dooley-like
character in the third book. There is a fourth out that I googled for after
coming back home to the computer and that I plan on having my local
bookstore owner order for me when I go to town today for groceries.