I love finding new authors and new cozy mystery series to read and this one is a fun one!

Damon Lassard is a young man with enough money that he doesn't have to have a job so he spends his days doing volunteer work at the library and acting as the president of the citizen's group in his neighborhood.  When one of his neighbors comes to him with a complaint about his crepe myrtle dying, Lassard gets involved in the life of Jeremiah Milk.  Jeremiah was born with a birth defect that led to some bullying in his younger days.  Those days left their effect.  When he's found dead at the park where he works as a ranger, Damon wants to know why.

He's worked with his friend and cop Gerry to solve a murder before but this time the higher-ups at the police department tell him in no uncertain terms to stay away from the case.  Which, of course, is the last thing he does and with his best friend Rebecca, he pursues leads wherever he can find them.

The book has a cast of characters that are interesting to meet and the plot is well thought out. The twists and turns are unexpected and fun.  The subplot about the crepe myrtle is intriguing because I was wondering the whole time why anyone would want to go around killing crepe myrtle! and yes, we are do find out the answer to that.

I feel like the dialogue is a little stiff at times but I believe this author has the ability to mature and deepen with each new book and I'll be reading them!

The author gave me a copy of this book in return for an honest review and that's what I've given.