Baz finds himself being chased after stealing a huge stuffed snake which he didn’t realize was filled with money. He also didn’t expect Aunt Agnes, Shay’s landlord Eddy and Shay’s employee Rocky to take the snake with them on their trip to New Orleans. Shay quickly realizes the mess Baz has gotten himself into and calls her best friend Coop. The three high tail it to New Orleans where they have a hard time finding Agnes and company and when they do, Rocky is missing. The bad guys are looking for Baz and know just where he is, putting Shay and her friends in danger –they’ve just stumbled onto a drug ring and aren’t quite sure which way is out. 

Full of larger than life characters and madcap situations, Hide and Snake Murder will appeal to fans of comic mysteries.  Baz is about as dopey as they come. But Shay, though impatient with Baz, agrees to help him out of kindness, especially when she learns Eddy, who has been very good to Shay, and Rocky who is a gentle soul, are involved and in possible danger. 

Coop is a more patient, quieter person than Shay, someone she has been best friends with for years and, by her own admission, would have married long ago if she were straight. Shay’s recently acquired girlfriend, JT Bordeaux, arrives home from her training in Quantico just in time to help the gang – who is in deeper than they expected and have been relying on a professor who is an expert in drug cartels but in whom Shay isn’t completely sure she wants to put all her trust.  A lively plot keeps things moving as Shay and her friends chase the bad guys (or is it the other way around) back to Minnesota and a final showdown.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry