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A Loon Lake Mystery #7
Dead Boogie
Doc Osborne knows there are plenty of fish in the sea, but only police chief Lew Ferris qualifies as his catch of the day.
Just as the summer is heating up, the town gets turned upside down by the bizarre triple homicide discovered on a backcountry road... Peg Garmin was not Loon Lake's most beloved citizen. Considering her "calling" in life, no one was completely surprised when she was found murdered in the company of two exotic dancers...no one, that is, except for Ray Pradt, Peg's dearest friend.
As the team digs into the mystery of her past, they discover some startling connections to one of the wealthiest families in Chicago and to the buried secret that could destroy them. Now Lew, Osborne, and Ray must root the skeletons out of the Garmin family closet before Peg's killer becomes the one who got away...
Just as the summer is heating up, the town gets turned upside down by the bizarre triple homicide discovered on a backcountry road... Peg Garmin was not Loon Lake's most beloved citizen. Considering her "calling" in life, no one was completely surprised when she was found murdered in the company of two exotic dancers...no one, that is, except for Ray Pradt, Peg's dearest friend.
As the team digs into the mystery of her past, they discover some startling connections to one of the wealthiest families in Chicago and to the buried secret that could destroy them. Now Lew, Osborne, and Ray must root the skeletons out of the Garmin family closet before Peg's killer becomes the one who got away...
224 pages, ebook
First published March 7, 2006
74 people are currently reading
191 people want to read
About the author
Victoria Houston
36 books273 followersShe is the author of the Loon Lake Mystery Series -- DEAD ANGLER, DEAD CREEK, DEAD WATER, DEAD FRENZY, DEAD HOT MAMA, DEAD JITTERBUG, DEAD BOOGIE, DEAD MADONNA, DEAD HOT SHOT, DEAD RENEGADE. DEAD DECEIVER, DEAD TEASE, DEAD INSIDER, DEAD HUSTLER, DEAD RAPUNZEL, DEAD LOUDMOUTH, DEAD SPIDER, DEAD FIREFLY, DEAD BIG DAWG and WOLF HOLLOW in hardcover, trade paperback and as an eBook from Simon & Schuster. The mysteries are set in the Northwoods of Wisconsin against a background of fishing – fly fishing as well as fishing for muskie, bass, bluegill and walleyes.
Houston’s mystery series was featured in a story on the front page of The Wall Street Journal (January 20, 2004) and on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation with Neal Conan” (February 2, 2006). Both can be seen/heard on the website: www.victoriahouston.com.
She has also written or co-authored over seven non-fiction books. An award-winning author specializing in family issues, Houston’s non-fiction books include the highly recommended ALONE AFTER SCHOOL: A Self-Care Guide for Latchkey Children and Their Parents (Prentice Hall, 1985); the national bestseller, LOVING A YOUNGER MAN: How Women Are Finding and Enjoying a Better Relationship (Contemporary Books (1987); Pocket Books (1988); MAKING IT WORK: Finding the Time and Energy For Your Career, Marriage, Children and Self (Contemporary Books, 1990) -- which was published by Simon & Schuster's Fireside imprint in August 1991 as a trade paperback titled MAKING IT WORK: Creative Solutions For Balancing Your Career, Marriage, Children And Personal Life. Houston co-authored RESTORE YOURSELF: A Woman’s Guide to Reviving Her Libido and Passion for Life (The Berkley Publishing Group/2001) with Dr. James Simon, a Past President of the North American Menopause Society.
Houston’s mystery series was featured in a story on the front page of The Wall Street Journal (January 20, 2004) and on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation with Neal Conan” (February 2, 2006). Both can be seen/heard on the website: www.victoriahouston.com.
She has also written or co-authored over seven non-fiction books. An award-winning author specializing in family issues, Houston’s non-fiction books include the highly recommended ALONE AFTER SCHOOL: A Self-Care Guide for Latchkey Children and Their Parents (Prentice Hall, 1985); the national bestseller, LOVING A YOUNGER MAN: How Women Are Finding and Enjoying a Better Relationship (Contemporary Books (1987); Pocket Books (1988); MAKING IT WORK: Finding the Time and Energy For Your Career, Marriage, Children and Self (Contemporary Books, 1990) -- which was published by Simon & Schuster's Fireside imprint in August 1991 as a trade paperback titled MAKING IT WORK: Creative Solutions For Balancing Your Career, Marriage, Children And Personal Life. Houston co-authored RESTORE YOURSELF: A Woman’s Guide to Reviving Her Libido and Passion for Life (The Berkley Publishing Group/2001) with Dr. James Simon, a Past President of the North American Menopause Society.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
July 30, 2022
It all starts out as a car accident but when the three occupants turns out to all have bulletholes in them it turns serious. Dead Boogie is another fun filled mystery by Victoria Houston. I may be a little boring just reading this series but that is the best way to enjoy a series. To read every book back to back and since I got the second book in the new Lew Ferris series as an advace copy I felt I had to read all the previous books so I'm up to date.
April 22, 2017
I so enjoy this series!
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January 9, 2018
A great cast of characters. The "Loon Lake Mystery series" is always a good read!
October 26, 2018
A yummy book
January 4, 2008
I love these Loon Lake mysteries because they all take place in Northern Wisconsin where my family has spent lots of time vacationing. They are a little bit silly but a fun way to spend an afternoon.
September 1, 2008
A ranger is going home on unused roads as a shortcut and finds a car that has flipped over and three dead women inside. Only it turns out the women were murdered.
I really liked the characters fo the Sherrif and Doc Osborne and this was a very quick and pleasant read
I really liked the characters fo the Sherrif and Doc Osborne and this was a very quick and pleasant read
July 2, 2009
Good Read. Love the Wisconsin setting and the small town feel.
September 18, 2013
Love the Loon Lake books.
April 3, 2025
This series got off to a great start - the characters were likeable, the settings were enjoyable, the circumstances were believable. But as I read more and more of the series, little things started bugging me - time had passed, but characters didn't age... tiny stuff like that - It was almost as if Victoria Houston had contracted other writers to keep the stories going, and they didn't do their homework... or follow the style book... As I was reading these recovering from an illness, I was reading them one right after the other, so those inconsistencies would be more apparent....just my two cents.
February 4, 2019
...and yet another continuity issue. In a previous book, we learn that Doc's son-in-law quit his job at the county attorney's office and went to work for a private firm. Yet in this book, the son-in-law was working at the county attorney's office. No explanation as to how he got back there. It was presented as if we already knew this.
Again, the story is interesting but continuity problems will drive you bonkers. There are at least a few in every book and you have to stop and say to your self, "Wait a freaking minute, how did that happen?".
Again, the story is interesting but continuity problems will drive you bonkers. There are at least a few in every book and you have to stop and say to your self, "Wait a freaking minute, how did that happen?".
November 2, 2017
I think the book is boring, and they say too much that doesn't matter. They talk about details that really have nothing to do with the three dead girls. There are too many characters it's hard to know who is who. I wouldn't recommend this book to a friend. I wouldn't recommend this to a friend because there was never a point in this book where I thought, oh I want to keep reading. In a book I like when I can't put it down because I'm so into it, but this book wasn't like that.
June 20, 2018
The idyllic Loon Lake community is for enjoying the northwoods, fishing, and relaxing. That is until a triple homicide in a powder blue convertible is discovered on an old logging road. The town regulars, Chief Ferris, Ray Pradt, and Doc Osborne all get involved as this tragedy unfolds during a country music festival. Victoria Houston's vivid descriptions of the northwoods, lakes, fishing, and sunsets are always a pleasure to read.
May 20, 2019
LOVE this series
This author doesn't seem to need profanity or foul language to get her point across and tell the story. I'm familiar with northwest Wisconsin and northeast Minnesota, so it's like reading about the adventures of good friends. There aren't so many characters i can't keep track of them and the names are real instead of weird and confusing. The guilty parties are not predictable. I thoroughly enjoy each book.
This author doesn't seem to need profanity or foul language to get her point across and tell the story. I'm familiar with northwest Wisconsin and northeast Minnesota, so it's like reading about the adventures of good friends. There aren't so many characters i can't keep track of them and the names are real instead of weird and confusing. The guilty parties are not predictable. I thoroughly enjoy each book.
February 10, 2020
finished yesterday the 9th of february 2020 good read three stars i liked it kindle library loaner first from houston thought the initial murders and some of the clues found did not receive as much attention as seemed possible. boot prints...likely suspect...reader is shown these clues, suspect, but then nothing much comes of that we're on to other things. relatively big cast of characters all portrayed in their own light overall enjoyed the story.
September 5, 2023
Another quick reading mystery from Victoria Houston. A rolled over car is found with 3 dead women in it. But they died from gunshots not the crash. One of the women is a former prostitute with links to a wealthy family. Could that have something to do with her death? Sheriff Lew along with Osborne and Ray investigate. As with all Loon Lake mysteries the loose ends are tied up by the end of the story.
March 28, 2018
Quick, fun read. As a resident of Wisconsin, it's always fun to read about characters that could live in my backyard, and some I'm pretty sure I've met. Another intriguing mystery with all the best Loon Lake has to offer!
December 8, 2017
Several continuity errors in this one, but still an enjoyable read.
October 13, 2017
I generally like this series, but this book was nothing special.
June 20, 2018
A hooker with a heart of gold dies with 2 girlfriends and all are amazed to discover that she is actually an heiress. Why did her life take the route it did?
November 25, 2019
3 women die in car accident - but no, they were shot first. A prominent Chicago family involved in sexual assault of one of the women (as a child) - and other scandals. Not much fishing
November 26, 2019
Good mystery and fun to read about places I have been to as I live in Wisconsin.
December 10, 2019
Will look for more in this series
May 10, 2021
Another entertaining yarn about the Loon Lake residents. Sure are a lot of loonies around there. This is good for those of us who enjoy the tales.
December 31, 2022
Very enjoyable series
April 11, 2023
It’s like catching up with old friends as I read through this series.
October 24, 2024
enjoyed the book, really like the series...
April 10, 2025
This Loon Lake mystery series is good and not real complicated. I like it because it’s based in Northern Wisconsin.
August 30, 2014
The first sentence of the first chapter just sucked me right in: “The eagle ate well that day.” Now, despite all the patriotic hoopla surrounding our national bird, an eagle is nothing but a buzzard with a Wall Street hairstyle and an Armani suit. So that one sentence told me that Victoria Houston was getting right down to the business of murder in this 7th entry in her Loon Lake series.
By the end of the first chapter, we have our body. Actually, we have three bodies, all trapped in a baby blue convertible overturned in a ditch on a back road. A Forest Service ranger, hurrying home to start his summer vacation, makes the grisly discovery and phones it in between bouts of nausea.
Chief of Police Lew Ferris is swamped with the problems associated with the area’s annual Country Music Fest and asks Doc Osborne to check out the accident and make tentative ID, if possible. When Doc arrives, he sees the patiently waiting eagle and a patiently waiting, but green-around-the-gills forest ranger. And he sees a car he recognizes immediately. The next thing he registers is that the damage caused by the carrion-eating eagle has only continued what a bullet to each of three brains started.
The driver of the distinctive convertible was Peg Garmin, a long-time Loon Lake resident living on a multi-million dollar piece of lakefront property. Most people in town snidely think they know where that money came from. Peg’s husband had been a corrupt cop in Chicago and a mob bagman who had been paid well to keep his mouth shut and serve a felony conviction. Until his early and unexpected death five years ago, they had owned and operated a highly successful bar-restaurant-resort in Loon Lake. With his death, Peg was forced to sell the resort, presumably going back to her previous occupation, earning her current money on her back.
But Peg was more than just a pliant body to several people in town, including Ray Pradt. Very sensitive to other’s problems and surprisingly un-jaded, Peg had been Ray’s mother’s best friend and had helped Ray to understand the cause of his mother’s alcoholism. Called to the scene to take evidence photos, Ray is devastated when he learns that one of the victims is Peg. After learning from Doc that the three women were probably dead before the car wrecked, an angry and determined Ray, using his prodigious tracking skills, soon finds the actual murder site in a clearing not far away. And now the hunt is on.
Victoria Houston writes cozies in which “who-done-it” is usually easy for the reader to figure out early on. But, by writing the story from Doc’s viewpoint only, she makes it much more difficult for the reader to figure out the “why-done-it.” Crafting a capable and professional investigation, Houston leads the reader systemically to the “why” and a final confrontation with the “who” that does not require a suspension of disbelief to resolve.
There is no cliffhanger and there are actually no hooks leading toward a next novel. But, as usual, Houston can’t keep her demographic facts straight from one chapter to the next. At least Houston is consistent in that regard – all her books are that way. I have just learned to roll my eyes at the obvious inconsistencies and focus on the expressiveness of her language, the comprehension she has of human emotion and her characterizations of a very effective investigative team. Those aspects of the writing far outweigh whether Doc’s outboard is a 9.9 Merc on one page and a 10 hp Merc on another, even if, to a boater and to an engine manufacturer, that is an important and noticeable difference.
By the end of the first chapter, we have our body. Actually, we have three bodies, all trapped in a baby blue convertible overturned in a ditch on a back road. A Forest Service ranger, hurrying home to start his summer vacation, makes the grisly discovery and phones it in between bouts of nausea.
Chief of Police Lew Ferris is swamped with the problems associated with the area’s annual Country Music Fest and asks Doc Osborne to check out the accident and make tentative ID, if possible. When Doc arrives, he sees the patiently waiting eagle and a patiently waiting, but green-around-the-gills forest ranger. And he sees a car he recognizes immediately. The next thing he registers is that the damage caused by the carrion-eating eagle has only continued what a bullet to each of three brains started.
The driver of the distinctive convertible was Peg Garmin, a long-time Loon Lake resident living on a multi-million dollar piece of lakefront property. Most people in town snidely think they know where that money came from. Peg’s husband had been a corrupt cop in Chicago and a mob bagman who had been paid well to keep his mouth shut and serve a felony conviction. Until his early and unexpected death five years ago, they had owned and operated a highly successful bar-restaurant-resort in Loon Lake. With his death, Peg was forced to sell the resort, presumably going back to her previous occupation, earning her current money on her back.
But Peg was more than just a pliant body to several people in town, including Ray Pradt. Very sensitive to other’s problems and surprisingly un-jaded, Peg had been Ray’s mother’s best friend and had helped Ray to understand the cause of his mother’s alcoholism. Called to the scene to take evidence photos, Ray is devastated when he learns that one of the victims is Peg. After learning from Doc that the three women were probably dead before the car wrecked, an angry and determined Ray, using his prodigious tracking skills, soon finds the actual murder site in a clearing not far away. And now the hunt is on.
Victoria Houston writes cozies in which “who-done-it” is usually easy for the reader to figure out early on. But, by writing the story from Doc’s viewpoint only, she makes it much more difficult for the reader to figure out the “why-done-it.” Crafting a capable and professional investigation, Houston leads the reader systemically to the “why” and a final confrontation with the “who” that does not require a suspension of disbelief to resolve.
There is no cliffhanger and there are actually no hooks leading toward a next novel. But, as usual, Houston can’t keep her demographic facts straight from one chapter to the next. At least Houston is consistent in that regard – all her books are that way. I have just learned to roll my eyes at the obvious inconsistencies and focus on the expressiveness of her language, the comprehension she has of human emotion and her characterizations of a very effective investigative team. Those aspects of the writing far outweigh whether Doc’s outboard is a 9.9 Merc on one page and a 10 hp Merc on another, even if, to a boater and to an engine manufacturer, that is an important and noticeable difference.
April 11, 2016
I am very much a read-in-order sort of person. Goes along with the OCD. ;)
I decided to read a book in Victoria Houston's "Loon Lake Fishing Mystery" series to fulfill a challenge spot. Unfortunately, the earliest in the series my library had in stock was #7. Despite my OCD-ish tendencies, I went ahead and started Dead Boogie.
What I found inside was not what I had expected from the back blurb (in a good way). One of the characters who is found dead was described as "not [being] Loon Lake's most beloved citizen[s]." I expected a crotchety old bat that got her kicks from complaining to (and about) everyone. Instead, it was a beautiful woman who had been handed the short of the stick from life and had tried to make it better, despite some poor choices. I also wasn't expecting an older male protagonist.
The mystery was decent, though it was somewhat obvious who it was as soon as they were introduced (for lack of other suspects), The characters were interesting, though being #7 in the series I felt as if I had been dropped in the middle of things, with very little explanation or back story. And it's one of the shorter mysteries I've read (clocking in at just over 200 pages).
I'll keep the series on my radar - and hopefully start at the beginning!
I decided to read a book in Victoria Houston's "Loon Lake Fishing Mystery" series to fulfill a challenge spot. Unfortunately, the earliest in the series my library had in stock was #7. Despite my OCD-ish tendencies, I went ahead and started Dead Boogie.
What I found inside was not what I had expected from the back blurb (in a good way). One of the characters who is found dead was described as "not [being] Loon Lake's most beloved citizen[s]." I expected a crotchety old bat that got her kicks from complaining to (and about) everyone. Instead, it was a beautiful woman who had been handed the short of the stick from life and had tried to make it better, despite some poor choices. I also wasn't expecting an older male protagonist.
The mystery was decent, though it was somewhat obvious who it was as soon as they were introduced (for lack of other suspects), The characters were interesting, though being #7 in the series I felt as if I had been dropped in the middle of things, with very little explanation or back story. And it's one of the shorter mysteries I've read (clocking in at just over 200 pages).
I'll keep the series on my radar - and hopefully start at the beginning!
December 27, 2018
Down home, backwoods mystery with lots about fishing... A car crash with three victims who are shot to death is the mystery Chief Lew & Dr. Osborne have to figure out. One of the victims is Peg Garmin--exotic dancer & hooker--who apparently has another life they discover once they start digging. Nice little mystery with likable hometown characters, but I must admit, I'm not a fisherman, so I usually skim the parts about fishing...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews