The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Book Cover for: The Moth Came Back, Tara Ratzlaff

The Moth Came Back

Tara Ratzlaff

Twenty-eight year old Carmen Karlaff, owner of a native grass and wildflower seed farm in northwestern Minnesota is surprised when her employees find a dead body in her big bluestem field. Her best friend, Jessica, is accused of the murder when the body is identified as Jessica's long lost brother who ran away twenty years ago after injuring a young girl in a drunken driving accident. No one seems to know why he returned home after all this time, or what would have caused him to be killed. The sheriff suspects Jessica of murdering her own brother when he learns there is an inheritance at stake. Things are further complicated when evidence implicating Jessica is found at her home. Carmen knows Jessica isn't a murderer and decides to investigate. In the midst of a building project to promote tourism on her farm, navigating her feelings for her newly hired foreman with a past he's unwilling to share, and preparing for harvest; her questions lead her to suspect this present day murder is tied to the twenty year old accident and if she's not careful the killer who is trying to keep the knowledge of what really happened that night quiet will try to silence her too.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Camel Press
  • Publish Date: Jul 11st, 2023
  • Pages: 230
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.50in - 5.50in - 0.58in - 0.54lb
  • EAN: 9781684920969
  • Categories: Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths

About the Author

Ratzlaff, Tara: - Tara Ratzlaff lives in the northwest corner of Minnesota (just about in Canada) with her husband of twenty-eight years, daughter, five fat cats and one eccentric dog that belligerently greets everyone as if she's never met them, including family. She graduated from North Dakota State University with a degree in Civil Engineering and became the first female County Highway Engineer in the state of Minnesota. She retired early from her career as a Civil Engineer when she and her husband purchased a native grass and wildflower seed farm/business which they operated for over twenty years before recently retiring. With her daughter in college pursuing her master's degree and the seed farm no longer keeping her busy, she decided it was time to pursue her dream of writing cozy mysteries. Her hobbies are reading (mysteries only, of course), long walks, swimming when the pool isn't froze and watching the antics of their pets.

Praise for this book

Tara Ratzlaff's newly published novel, "The Moth Came Back" is set in the Midwest and features an inherently interesting female sleuth. This debut volume of a new cozy mystery 'Native Prairie Mysteries' series has more unexpected plot twists and turns than a Kansas tornado and is a compulsive page turner of a 'whodunnit' murder mystery from start to finish.

Midwest Book Review