Desire in Dairyland by Michelle Caffrey

Genre: Mystery/Romance

Length:  289 pages

Publisher:  Black Rose Writing, November 16, 2023

Reviewed by Leoma Retan

If you enjoy mysteries in small-town settings, where most residents have history with one another and are not afraid to poke into each others business, you will enjoy Desire in Dairyland, by Michelle Caffrey. The mystery intrigued me. The unforgettable characters—including one guard goose, three old family friends that might as well be relatives, and a pair of suitors for main character Ruth Markson—kept me involved until the very last page.

Ruth felt she’d escaped rural life when she moved to the city for college. The city, where people didn’t comment on her every choice and she had a chance to make a real difference, was her future. Even when she returns to her home town of Eureka to make the money she needs to fund her next step, she only plans to stay a year. Her childhood friend, Tyler Kelly, would like to change her view of small towns.

Then she learns that active, engaged people at the retirement home where she works as a nurse are dying more frequently than she thinks they should. Her investigations lead to more questions than answers. Even help from Tyler and her old friends fails to provide much insight. As patients who have become friends begin to die, Ruth is desperate to find a solution.

But the biggest question of all is how she should respond to her growing attraction to Tyler, knowing that she plans to leave for good in a year and he will never be happy with a future outside of Eureka. In a collision of hopes, dreams, and plans, is there a path that doesn’t sacrifice either her career or her love life?

As the novel began, I wasn’t sure if the familiar setting would be enough to keep me reading. Then the quirky characters drew me in. Threats to Ruth, her family, and even family pets, as well as the nursing home residents, pulled me forward to an ending that I expect will satisfy both mystery and romance readers.

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Reviewer Bio: Leoma Retan is an engineer by day, writer by night, and techno-freak always. Born and raised in Wisconsin, she’s lived in many places. A member of the Wisconsin Writers Association, she builds worlds in her dreams and loves to relax by exploring possibilities for the past, present, and future through the visions of others.