Wedding Jitters and Stormy Rivers: A Scumble River Mystery

Welcome Back to Scumble River #5

by Denise Swanson

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery

305 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 25, 2026

About the author

Denise Swanson lives in rural Illinois with her husband, classical composer David Stybr.

After 22 years as a practicing school psychologist, she's happiest sitting in her scree porch reading. However, when the weather turns too cold, she's willing to leave the Midwest to cruise the sunny Caribbean.

Denise is an animal lover, but her home is currently furless, since her kitty of 20 years passed away in August of 2016. Instead, she enjoys watching the wildlife out her office window.

Reviews

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this chapter of Skye’s story, celebrating the wedding of her two young friends, Frankie and Justin. Of course, there had to be a mystery to solve in the process, but it was a very cold case, a skeleton revealed in the wedding venue. It was lovely to have Chef to Go characters join in the festivities too.

[Rita Pierrottie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Read

I love this series. The characters along with the author's writing style keeps me reading straight through to the end.

[Mary Clare · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the last book I will read from this series
The humor was condescending to small town people and the plot was more far fetched than usual. Formerly pleasant supporting characters became central characters and behaved like idiots.

The book could have started after school had ended. The brief events at school were irrelevant to the plot and were offensive to LGBTQ people.

The Dante illegal fireworks episodes had no relationship to the rest of the plot and seemed to be included to merely fill pages. No explanation of the flowers with the possibly threatening note sent to Dante’s wife.

Recurring things that need to be dropped from the series:
Skye v Homer
Skye v Simon
Dante v Skye
Dante v Wally
Dooziers

I hate to be crass, but this seemed like a book that was written because the author either needed money or needed to write a book to fulfill contract requirements.

[Patricia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I will probably not be buying any further books from this author. I read as a "vacation" from stress and political rhetoric but in the first few pages of this book you have a male student discovered in the girls bathroom after wetting on himself; I suppose we are supposed to feel sorry for him.
Then, she and Wally have 2 small children that they see for about 5 minutes a day because they are "so well off" they don't have to raise their own children.
Skye and Wally have become very offensive, pretentious characters

[Lois · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the Scumble River characters and always enjoy spending time with them, but the plot to this one felt disjointed to me. A few of the scenes were hilarious: Skye running into Glenda & Earl in Walmart, Bunny and Skye at McDonald’s, and Skye eavesdropping on the reporter with Wally.

I loved that Spencer & Dani were included.

The old theater setting was intriguing.

But there were too many unnecessary sides to make a cohesive meal, if this were a dinner.

It’s one of the few mysteries with the Scumble River cast I didn’t just love.

[Lois Rotella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book by Denise Swanson. Skye's Friends are getting married. While the setting is unusual it is right for them. while getting the place ready they find a body and Skye and her police chief husband need to find out who did it before the wedding goes in another direction. I really hope for more books in the Scumble River series.

[Tracie Klenk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wedding Jitters and Stormy Rivers is like going back to a familiar place. It was great to see a cross over from Denise Swanson other serious Chef To Go. Skye and Wally were defiantly on the case of a new body all the while trying to help Frankie and Justin to get married. I look forward to see more from this series.

[Kelly Beck · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy this series but this wasn’t one of my favorites. It felt like some things were forced in to make it relevant to what is happening in society today but then not followed through. Maybe they will be in a future book. The ending felt very abrupt and I think could have been wrapped up better.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading about Scumble River is like visiting the town I grew up in since it's modeled after that town. This is a great series with wonderful people and settings. I love the crossovers. I giggled and shed a tear at different places.

[Erin Sorrels · Rating 4 out of 5]

So glad to see a new Scumble River book

It’s been a while since book 4, but all the memories of the series came back quickly and the new book is a real delight. Including the previous series, it’s been a lot of books and the fun of the characters just continues.

[Vivian Oleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a continuation of the Scumble River series and it's complete with the same cast of characters. Things are changing for these folks and in this book two of school psychologist Skye's students are getting married--not without an appearance by the obligatory corpse, of course. It all resolves in the end, with laughs along the way. Enjoy!

[Carrie Shields · Rating 5 out of 5]

RTC!

[Penny Perse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wedding Jitters and Stormy Rivers

Too many pieces of evidence left laying around and too many involved. What a story. Too bad the villain forgot others were involved.

[ramona thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Read

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I loved the Scumble River and Welcome Back Series. I hope there’s a Book 6.