Murder Talks Turkey

Gertie Johnson: Yooper Mysteries #3

by Deb Baker

Yooper Mystery #3, Murder Talks Turkey From National Bestselling Author, Deb Baker In her third Yooper mystery (as in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, or U.P.), Baker’s lively protagonist, Gertie Johnson, is minding her own business, standing in line at the bank when it gets robbed. From her position on the floor, Gertie watches as a gunman on the roof of a nearby building shoots the bank robber dead. She quickly decides that she and the other two members of her Trouble Buster Investigative Company (all single women of a certain age) need to help their hapless sheriff solve the case. The trouble is feisty Gertie has a lot on her plate, what with her extended family, her other investigations, and a tentative new romance. The deeper into the bank robbery she goes, the more complicated and seriously dangerous it gets. Intrepid Gertie is a wonderfully drawn character, whose view of the U.P.’s denizens and their surroundings makes for enjoyable storytelling. ~ Booklist "(A) delight to read. In addition to the engaging mystery, it's a wonderful story of the love of family and friends." ~ Hidden Staircase Mystery Books "Deb Baker has perfectly captured the spirit and lifestyle of those who dwell above The Bridge." ~ Traverse City Record-Eagle "If you're looking for a chuckle-filled read, visit Stonely at every opportunity. Suddenly, your own crazy relatives won't seem so bad!" ~ Mysterical-E "One of the most memorable heroines in recent crime fiction." ~ Lansing State Journal "Take a wild ride through the North Woods with Deb Baker's latest Yooper Mystery. Murder Talks Turkey is a laugh out loud, action-packed romp with some of the zaniest mystery investigators ever. Armed with walkie-talkies, stun gun, and Wonderbras, Gertie Johnson and friends hunt for the killer--and create more trouble than they started out with. It's a hoot and a half." ~ Maggie Sefton, author of A Killer Stitch "The heart of Murder Talks Turkey is Gertie. If she lived in the south rather than the far north, we'd call her a 'steel magnolia.' When she is on the lam, Gertie does it in a style not before seen in crime fiction.” ~ Cozy Library "[A] hilarious light-hearted mystery." -- Book Lover Blog (May 2011 new cover design by Patricia Ryan)

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Cozy, Thanksgiving, Humor

268 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Bestselling, award-winning author Deb Baker writes the hilarious Gertie Johnson mystery series set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. A native Yooper herself, Deb brings her blend of humor and sass to everything she writes, including mysteries written under her pen name Hannah Reed.

In addition to the Yooper mysteries, Deb/Hannah also penned a doll collecting series, beekeeping mysteries, and a Scottish Highland trilogy.

Reviews

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining mystery listening 🎶🔰

Another will written murder mystery family and friends relationships adventure thriller novel by Deb Baker (A Gertie Johnson Murder Mystery Series book 3). Gertie is a the credit union when it is robbed and the robbed is killed. One hundred thousand dollars is missing from the credit union but how?. Mean while her son is very sick and the acting sheriff is not handling the job very well. Another murder and another murder, attempts on Gertie and friends, and another murder. But Gertie brings it all too an action packed end. I would recommend this series and author to 👍 readers of mystery novels 👍🔰. Enjoy the adventure of reading 👓 or listening 🎶 to Alexa read books 📚. 2022 👒😊

[Karol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murder Talks Turkey: A Yooper Mystery by Deb Baker is a thoroughly enjoyable tale. I feel the author has hit a home-run with this one. I've always enjoyed quirky characters, and "Turkey" clearly has an abundance of those. To me, this series feels like "Murder She Wrote" meeting "Northern Exposure". (I was a big fan of both!)

I've read all three of the Yooper series mysteries now and I'm hoping for a 4th. In this one, the characters are a bit more developed and we see Gertie's attitude softening somewhat towards the more challenging people in her life. This book focused more on Gertie herself, and I liked that. I enjoyed getting to know Gertie's family, and friends like George and Walter better, as well as some of the other folks from the small town of Stonely. I especially liked Gertie's discovery of who her friends really were as she went through some scrapes and trials in this story.

Gertie, Grandma Johnson, Blaze and Star seem like members of my own family now. I kind of missed Little Donny in this story, but seeing George and Walter involved in Gertie's adventure this time was fun and quite interesting. I love the setting, and how the plot is so well tied-in with the geography and unique culture of the upper peninsula of Michigan.

I'll be passing my copy along to my mom who loves a good mystery and who, along with my dad, was the person responsible for me getting to know the U.P., too. I know she'll love the book as much as I did.

[LORI CASWELL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spring in Upper Michigan (Yooper) means TURKEY HUNTING TIME!!! and not all the blinds are being used for hunting. Of course when the local credit union is robbed at gunpoint no one is talking about turkeys. Why would you plan a robbery in a town where everyone is armed and ready? The plan falls apart when the gunman is shot dead but somehow the money is still missing.

“Faster than you can say “Tom Turkey,” Gertie, Cora Mae, and Kitty are on the case, in this hoot of a whodunit.”

Dollycas’s Thoughts
Gertie Johnson is such a wonderful character that always tickles my funny bone. Her and her Trouble Busting friends trying to help the sheriff solve the crime will have you laughing from beginning to end.

Well written stories with fantastic characters in crazy situations. This entire series is so much fun to read. Light, entertaining and a great escape. These Yooper stories are a real treat.

[Gayle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and all of the UP references. Gertie and her friends are great!

[Mary Welk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gertie Johnson is minding her own business, just waiting in line at the Stonely Credit Union, when a young man wearing orange gym shoes walks in and holds up the bank. A quick-thinking teller hits the alarm button and, within minutes, acting-sheriff Dickey Snell and his deputies surround the bank. The robber is shot dead, but neither the cops nor the bank patrons claim responsibility for his death. So who shot the robber? And why is his pillowcase full of play money instead of the real stuff? With Sheriff Blaze Johnson out on sick leave, it's up to his mom and her Trouble Buster buddies to discover whodunnit. At the same time, Gertie and her pals are shadowing Tony Lento at the request of his wife. Lyla Lento is pretty sure Tony's cheating on her, and she's happy to pay the Trouble Busters in life-time manicures if they can get the goods on him. Working both cases at the same time lands Gertie, Cora Mae, and Kitty in big trouble, and it's not the kind of trouble the Trouble Busters can easily bust out of.

I'm a big fan of Deb Baker's Gertie Johnson series. I love the various characters and how they react to both family and friends in good times and bad. Stonely is a close knit community like many small towns are, and Baker does a great job portraying it as a community where everyone knows everyone else's business. The plot is a good one and the resolution is believable. Most of all, this is simply a fun book--and fun series--to read.

[Gail · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love Gertie Johnson! Seems like trouble follows her everywhere she goes. She reminds me of the older version of Stephanie Plum. I love the adventure in the UP of Michigan. This is a great series and I loved every minute of the book!

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gertie knows how to find trouble, but she also knows how to puzzle her way out of it. She takes me for a festive ride.

[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love Gertie Johnson!

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gertie, Cora, Kitty in the credit union when a man in orange shoes comes in to rob the place. The teller hits the silent alarm but when the robber hears he knocks her out. The police arrive, Gertie is on the floor she sees a man on the roof across the street he shoots the robber but he’s not a cop. Gertie and George find the sniper behind her truck on ground shot with her gun. The girls try to find out who shot the sniper and who stole the money.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Innocent 's not Guilty

100 plus stars is what I give this series. It's a clean mystery that the whole family would enjoy to read. It's funny, has family moments that well have but, most importantly what it has it a hard hard hard family and friend core that will keep you reading this wonderful mystery series.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Den Baker writes books that are just a joy to read. If you are looking for a series that is a cozy mystery with fabulous humor, this is the one. Gertie is delightful and manages to get into all sorts of trouble, much to the dismay of her son Blaze.

[PJ Lea · Rating 3 out of 5]

📚📚📚📗

Good story that had me guessing. I liked how crazy everyone seems and that things didn't go too easy for Gertie.

[Jennie Ersari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun cozy

Gertie and her gang are at it again, this time trying to solve the mystery of the bank robbery and The Orange Shoe Gang.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little slow but not a bad series

[Dawn Kuhn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goofy little story. Cute

[Yvonne Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book.

This book has lots of twists and turns throughout it. The ladies are quite a group of investigators! They have some unusual but loyal friends to say the least.

[Amary Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun cozy

Senior citizen Gertie started her own investigation agency in her backwoods area and regularly ticks off the police and her relatives

[Gizzard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a low three. It was pretty preposterous. I like the characters and enjoy the UP stuff (went to college in the UP). The action in this one was over the top and unbelievable and Gertie should have pretty much been in jail for the rest of her life after all of the laws she broke in this book. Last I checked catching a killer and solving a crime doesn't offset grand theft auto, breaking and entering, impersonating a law officer and jailbreak (and I think there were a few more.) I'll keep reading despite my complaints because the book was entertaining. Don't buy the stereotypes though- puleeze.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another great book by.Deb Baker. I just Gertie and her coherts in fighting crime. In this book, they was in the credit union, then a guy with orange shoes held up the place. The teller set off the silent alarm, then when the sirensgot close in someone shot the robber . But, when everyone was at the dance, Someone shot the shooter, with the gun that Gertie hide in her truck. Gertie & her friend from the body. I let you read the story to find out what happen. It will make you laugh wonder who did it all of what happen. I will let you know that Gertie friend Kitty got shot in the chest. Do shelive or die? Please read this great who did it mystery. You, will trully enjoy it.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm very said that this is the last book in this series. Again I laughed out loud frequently by the escapes of Gertie and her friends. I was waiting for her love life to pick up with George and thats why I jumped right in to this one. It took over 40 pages before we saw any sign of him. It did get interesting after that. I think she needs to flesh out her peripheral characters a little more. She mentions them and does a little interacting but you never find out very much about them. All in all a funny book that entertained me.

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book 3 in the Yooper Mysteries

It's turkey hunting season - for both types of turkeys - the animal and human.

The story starts out with a bank robbery where Monopoly money is taken from the bank's vault. Why was there fake money in the vault and why did the thief take that instead of real cash?

Blaze's gun is found at one of two crime scenes. Problem is the gun had been in Gertie's possession.

This one wasn't my favorite -- wasn't as funny as the other two in this series.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gertie Johnson is minding her own business, standing in line at the bank when it gets robbed. From her position on the floor, Gertie watches as a gunman on the roof of a nearby building shoots the bank robber dead. She quickly decides that she and the other members of her Trouble Buster Investigative Company (all single women in their later years) need to help their hapless sheriff solve the case. These books are really an enjoyable, laughable hoot! great read!

[Sue Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murder talks turkey is yet another great Gertie Johnson book. This time she and her gang were really in hot water. It made me laugh, cry, and even warmed my heart. I can't wait to read the next one in the serie although I think I'm reading them out of sequence. I love this series. Deb Baker draws you into the story. You can feel the cool UP weather, smell the scents of the forest and if you listen very closely you might be able to hear a few turkeys gobble.

[Rob Jarrad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Gert and friends. It makes the UP come alive for me as I've never been there but I feel like I have, thanks to Deb and family! Read Passes the Buck and ordered the others I haven't gotten to. I can hardly wait to finish this one. I laugh along with Gert and friends and she makes being older not so bad. With her on duty, the cops might just as well deputize Gert or just get out of the way.

[lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Murder talks turkey:


a zany murder mystery..a bank robbery..the robber is killed and the bag of money is monopoly money...however there is lots of money missing..looks like a inside job..perhaps.. more people are murdered and there seems to be a connection with orange sneakers...what's the deal??? three older women take on the task of finding the real murderer..fun book

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first time reading Deb Baker stories and I really enjoyed the story and the characters. Looking forward to the rest of the series. However, I read it on my Nook and have to say there were a lot of typos plus the words then and than were used incorrectly several times. So I would recommend a new proof reader.

[Sue Wargo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been on the TBR pile for a while. Judging by the receipt in the book it's been sitting to be read for 4 yrs. I really enjoyed the folksy story which is set in the northern Michigan peninsula known as the UP. Characters are well developed. This is a few books into the series but I was able to follow the plot and relationships without a lot of backstory. I'd definitely read more of these.

[Mahree Moyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went Deb Baker crazy and bought all her books. I’m from the Michigan, UP and can so relate to her stories. She is funny and knows how to write. I love her characters. I can picture each one of them, which I love when I’m reading. She keeps you reading. I would recommend her books to anyone that enjoys reading.

[Sheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoy this series and the quirky characters. They are quick, fun reads.

My only issue with the book is the perception given that Gertie is old, or borderline elderly, at the age of 66. This bugs me for some reason.

[Mariann Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Gertie Johnson

This series has been one of the best for me! Its a fast paced, FUNNY murder mystery that keeps you giggling and guessing whodunnit up to the end!! Can't wait to dread more by this author