May Day is a mystery, the first in a series of them set in a small town in Minnesota, featuring a librarian heroine. I was drawn in by the catchy title (apparently all of them will have a month in the title) and the cute packaging. The book to be a decent read, if not a true stand-out.

Mira James is from a small Minnesota town, but she’s lived in the Twin Cities since college, working as a waitress and half-heartedly pursuing a Masters in English. When her boyfriend breaks up with her and a friend asks her to housesit, she sees it as a good opportunity to make a change. She takes a job as an assistant librarian in tiny Battle Lake, Minnesota, and takes up residence in her friend’s manufactured home. Almost immediately she is sucked into a small town drama of major proportions. She meets Jeff, a surveyor who is in the area checking out some property for a potential amusement park. They hit it off quickly, and are soon intimate with each other. Things seem to be going well – until she finds Jeff in the library. In the fiction section. Dead. He has a book over his head, and a party invitation in his pocket.

Mira’s natural curiosity takes over, and she begins to investigate Jeff’s death. She quickly discovers that Jeff was no stranger to Battle Lake; he was the hometown football hero, a fact he conveniently forgot to mention to her. Several of Battle Lake’s denizens had an axe to grind with Jeff. Her boss, Lartel, used to coach Jeff in football, and Jeff sat out the state championship on purpose. Jeff was also the one-time boyfriend of Kennie Rogers, now the mayor of the town. The chief policeman also seems to bear some sort of grudge, and if that weren’t enough, Mira discovers that Jeff had found Indian carvings on the land he was investigating. Someone may very well have killed him to keep that information from reaching the public. Since the police don’t seem too motivated to find Jeff’s killer, it’s up to Mira to figure out what really happened.

As Mira’s investigation takes off, we learn all kinds of crazy things about this town. Everyone is brought under Mira’s microscope, and some of the things she learns are really off the wall. One suspect has a truly bizarre collection. Another has creepy parties involving pot and naked old people. Nearly everyone has some sort of sordid secret.

This book is written in the first person, so we’re always with Mira. And that’s a good thing, because Mira is the strength of the book. She has a unique voice, full of irreverent humor. Some of her observations are a little on the shocking side; she really spares no one. (If you don’t want to hear tasteless jokes about old people, consider yourself warned). For the most part, the humor worked for me, even when it was a little out there. I couldn’t help rooting for Mira, mostly because she wasn’t afraid to laugh at herself as much as she laughs at everyone else.

What didn’t work as well for me was the town of Battle Lake, and pretty much everyone in it except Mira. Some of the old people are pretty interesting; I liked the guy who fished off the roof and traded Mira info for a grocery store fish attached to his hook. But most of the characters are just plain creepy. Kennie Rogers would give anyone the heebies jeebies, as would Lartel. We don’t really see Lartel, but some of the stuff we learn is pretty out there. Even Mira’s best friend in town, Gina, is more annoying than anything else, what with her propensity to set Mira up on dates from hell. I guess I just wanted someone else to like outside of Mira herself. Well, someone besides Jeff, since he’s killed off so quickly.

The book is also a bit choppy in places. We learn of Jeff’s murder before we really know who he is; we go back and find all that out later. It’s a little awkward, and probably would have been more effective if it had been written differently. After awhile, the writing evens out and becomes smoother, fortunately.

Over all, though, I found the book entertaining enough. Possibly some more endearing characters – besides Mira, that is – will pop up in future books. If so, I’d be willing to give them a try.