#22 Avalanche by Patrick F. McManus Bo Tully Book 2 Sheriff Bo and his father are almost killed in an avalanche while going to an out-of-the-way ski lodge to tell the owner that she's just become a rich widow. When Bo finds evidence that the avalanche was deliberate, he investigates and finds a twisted mystery, which he solves with the help of his father (the former sheriff) and the local restaurant owner/expert tracker/pretend Indian. Not a bad mystery, and humorous in a slightly dark way.
#23 The Double-Jack Murders by Patrick F. McManus Bo Tully Book 3 (I'm sure you're sensing a theme here.) Bo and his occasionally legal crew work a 75-year old double murder case that gets wrapped up in a current murder. Not only does Bo solve both cases, he flirts with nearly every female in the story, all of whom appear to adore him almost unreservedly. Bo is the Sam Spade of the Idaho back country.
#24 The Huckleberry Murders by Patrick F. McManus Bo Tully Book 4 While picking huckleberries with an attractive woman who's giving him romantic signals, Bo finds three young men shot execution-style. He applies his blunderful intellect to the case and eventually solves it, then gets the girl but regrets it because he still mourns the wife he lost a decade before.
#25 The Tamarack Murders by Patrick F. McManus Bo Tully Book 5 Bo and his deputies are in pursuit of a bank robbery suspect who's fleeing up a steep rise when someone shoots the suspect from ambush and kills him. Bo's in real danger this time, but he avoids it with the help of his crew of misfits and solves the crime. Still a fun read.
#26 Circles In the Snow by Patrick F. McManus Bo Tully Book 6 The final entry in the Bo Tully series finds Bo working the murder of a rich man who is mourned by no one - in fact, there are hints that parties are being arranged as he questions suspects. The series ends as Bo decides he's caught enough crooks because he can't tell who to lock up and who to stop chasing even though the person is guilty. He retires to be a Western painter, marries the woman he loves best, puts his wife's death behind him, and goes on a tour of Idaho on his honeymoon accompanied by a senior citizen financial advisor/fortune teller (with his bride's okay, of course). He also discovers why concentric circles eight to ten feet across are suddenly appearing in the snow. Spoiler: it's not aliens.
I tend to read things in bunches. And I like McManus' way of describing the outdoors. He loved it (died 2018) and wrote about it with both humor and tenderness.
