Jess Lourey Books in Order

Mira James leaves the Twin Cities for a clean start in Battle Lake, where she quickly finds new work, new hope, and a dead boyfriend in the library. To survive, she has to learn what this polite little town has been hiding.

A summer treasure hunt sends Mira searching Whiskey Lake for prize money and a good story. Instead she finds a deeper mystery, a murder, and a man from her past she never wanted to see again.

When a giant statue disappears before a holiday celebration, Mira expects a quirky local story. Then a kidnapping and a lakeside corpse turn it into one of her messiest investigations yet.

Before the August Moon Festival, Mira's young library assistant is murdered and suspicion falls on a nearby Bible camp. The case mixes grief, small-town grudges, and a lot of uncomfortable questions.

At the Minnesota State Fair, a local dairy queen drops dead while posing for her butter sculpture. Mira digs through gossip, pageant rivalries, and bigger cover-ups to find out who wanted her silenced.

Battle Lake's October Fest begins with polka, politics, and a blogger found dead at a packed motor lodge. Mira has to sort through campaign mudslinging, tourists, and local secrets to catch the killer.

Home for Christmas, Mira James walks into a town gripped by the Candy Cane Killer. When a woman from her old class is murdered, the case becomes personal fast.

What looks like a hunting accident doesn't sit right with Mira James, especially when old resentments start surfacing. Her search through frozen fields and town gossip uncovers a scandal that never really died.

Aine thinks she is an ordinary girl in 1930s Alabama until a monster attacks and she learns her whole world is part of a book. She and her blind brother flee through classic novels on a quest tied to their true past.

At a church retreat in Bemidji, sharp-eyed Mrs. Berns watches a rude husband drop dead after a mayonnaise tasting. Her investigation is funny, nosy, and unexpectedly merciful.

A skating outing turns grim when Mira spots a corpse frozen beneath the ice. The dead man's last days lead her toward local history, ghost stories, and a killer waiting for the thaw.

Helena Catalain makes candies with a little magic in every bite, but she is hiding a frightening secret about her health. When the snakes return to Faith Falls, she must face the truth and the love she has been too ashamed to trust.

In Faith Falls, generations of Catalain women carry gifts, grudges, and a secret book of spells. When an old curse stirs again, family magic and buried pain rise together.

Mira James boards a Valentine's train to Oregon expecting romance and a professional conference. When a woman is murdered and her family vanishes in a Rockies blizzard, the trip turns into a locked-room investigation on rails.

Part workbook and part coloring book, this playful guide is built for blocked, visual, or self-doubting writers. Lourey uses drawing and story prompts to help readers shape characters, plot, and setting without getting stuck.

Genius cryptanalyst Salem Wiley is forced out of her carefully controlled life when her mother disappears after a brutal murder. Following clues tied to Emily Dickinson and the Beale Cipher, she uncovers a long-hidden conspiracy with deadly modern stakes.

Before the events of Salem's main story, a younger Salem Wiley must solve a 150-year-old code to save a dying child trapped in a tomb. The short also gives her an early encounter with the enemy who will haunt her later.

When Mira finds a corpse hidden inside a life-size doll, her investigation lands her in jail instead of at the crime scene. Now her friends have to help clear her name before the killer finishes dressing her up as the next victim.

This nonfiction guide asks writers to turn lived experience into fiction with honesty, structure, and purpose. Lourey blends practical advice with personal insight to help readers find a story worth telling.

FBI cryptanalyst Salem Wiley is pulled to an Irish farm after a strange miniature Stonehenge is found and a child named Mercy is kidnapped. To save her, Salem must outrun an ancient conspiracy and crack a code older than history.

An old note tucked inside a book links Mira James to a vanished librarian and to her own dead father. While she chases that mystery, a missing girl forces her to confront secrets Battle Lake has kept buried for years.

Cassie McDowell's 1980s Minnesota childhood looks ordinary from the outside, until local boys begin disappearing and returning changed. As rumors spread and her own family starts to crack, Cassie learns how dangerous truth can be in a town built on silence.

Pregnant journalist Joan Harken follows her fiance to his picture-perfect Minnesota hometown, hoping for a fresh start. Instead she finds surveillance, old disappearances, and a community whose smiles hide something deeply wrong.

Claudette, a dragon with control issues, tries to keep Princess Zoe and Prince Xander in line while the story invites kids to draw and play along. It is a gentle, interactive picture book built around creativity and compassion.

Fourteen-year-old Frankie Jubilee is sent to live with the mother she barely knows in Litani, Minnesota. When she gets pulled into a sinister local ritual called The Game, she uncovers hysteria, buried secrets, and adults who may be far more dangerous than they seem.

On a trip to Costa Rica, Van Reed and Harry Steinbeck are assigned to watch a mother and daughter tied to a Minnesota serial killer. The job quickly turns into a tense hunt for the truth.

Mira James is trying to make it through a December wedding without drama when Battle Lake mayor Kennie Rogers is kidnapped by a murderous Santa. To save her friend and steady her own shaky relationship, Mira has to chase one more very strange case.

In 1977 Minnesota, teenagers Heather and Brenda witness something terrible near the quarry and swear to keep quiet. When girls start disappearing, Heather digs into the town's secrets and realizes the danger is much closer than anyone wants to admit.

In 1980, girls vanished in a Minnesota forest and the case never stopped haunting the people it touched. Decades later, Van Reed and Harry Steinbeck follow a new crime back to those missing children.

A recent homicide drags Harry Steinbeck back to Alku, where an entire family was slaughtered decades earlier. As local children begin disappearing, he and Van Reed realize the old case is not finished with them.

A fresh murder mirrors a long-closed case in which teenage girls were found wearing terrible grins. When Van Reed's ID appears at the scene, she has to reopen the past to clear her name.

Tuesday Hendrickson thought the man who destroyed her sister was dead and buried. When new murders carry the Crying Killer's signature, she must protect her daughter and expose the secret that could get them both killed.

Inside the walled paradise of Noah's Valley, Rose Allgood has been taught not to question anything. Her mother's murder and her brother's arrest force her to uncover the secrets the Wall was built to contain.

Helena's gift for magical sweets has always helped other people more than herself. As snakes rise again in Faith Falls, she is forced to confront loss, love, and the truths she has been avoiding.