Home Is Where the Murder Is (A Hometown Mystery Book 2) by Rosalie Spielman

Retired US Army officer Tessa Treslow has settled in with her Aunt Edna in her hometown of New Oslo, Idaho. After the disasters of the previous fall, Tessa and her family are back on their feet as they start a new dream venture: a vehicle restoration business, "BOSS—Band of Sisters Services, call the She-canics."

Tessa and the enticing local math teacher, Nick Hunt, are also working together to organize a charity run during the New Oslo Pioneer Days festival. All seems to be going well... until Tessa finds a dead body in the town park!

The murder victim is a stranger to their small town, who claimed that she was the illegitimate cousin of Tessa's best friend, Deputy Petunia "Freddie" Frederickson. The victim's bloody finger is pointing to a mark on the veterans' honor roll sign, circling the names of Freddie and her grandfather. Complicating matters, Freddie was witnessed in an altercation with the woman just before her death, and it was Freddie's knife found at the scene.

In order to help her best friend, Tessa and Aunt Edna search for the real identity of the victim. Was she actually a long-lost family member? Who would want her dead? And what was she doing in New Oslo? Tessa is determined to find out... even if the answers lead her straight into the crosshairs of a killer!  (Summary via Goodreads)

If you want to keep track of your list of suspects in Home Is Where the Murder Is you will need a pad and pencil.  Home Is Where the Murder Is is the second book in the Hometown Mystery series by Rosalie Spielman and she crafts a great tale with a nice long list of possible murder suspects.

In Home Is Where the Murder Is main character Tessa Treslow is thrown into a murder case when her best friend Freddie is looked at as a suspect....even though she is Deputy Freddie Fredrickson.  

The story starts with the town of New Oslo celebrating Pioneer Day with a race, pie auction and other festivities.  Tessa, her Aunt Edna, parents, sister and niece are also celebrating Tessa's grandmother's name being added to the Veterans' Honor Roll as a member of the "Rosie's", women who went to work in the factories while the men were away at war.  During this time some strangers show up in town claiming to be certain people, one of importance being a woman who says her grandmother and Freddie's grandfather had an affair while he was in France during the war.  

Freddie ends up at the top of the suspect list after being overheard saying she would kill the woman and she ends up dead with Freddie's knife sticking out of her....

Because Freddie is her best friend Tessa begins looking into the woman and her claims and who could have wanted her dead.  Little does she know that she is going to be opening up a huge web of lies and secrets....some hitting very close to home and her heart.

Readers will love reading this second book in the Hometown Mystery series and even if you haven't read the first book, Welcome Home To Murder, you will find yourself right at home with the town and everyone in it.  And when I say you will need paper and pencil to keep track of the suspect list, I am not kidding.  I highly suggest writing it in pencil because you will need to erase things as you get to know the suspects.  And Spielman knows how to keep your attention in focus with everything and she will blow your mind a few times.