A few years ago, Dixie Tanner moved away from her hometown of Kenna Springs, Arkansas, and has made a nice life for herself in Little Rock as a clinical psychologist. Dixie is the first to admit she comes from a family of dysfunctional misfits and considers herself the least peculiar one of the bunch. Of course, that doesn’t mean she loves them any less, just that she has to live with the fact that people will always consider her as strange as they are.

Uncle Rudd calls her up late one night with the news that Aaron Scott, the man who left Dixie’s Aunt Connie at the altar 40 years ago, has suddenly turned up dead in Aunt Connie’s flower shop. Uncle Rudd insists that they need Dixie’s help and psychological expertise. Despite intense reservations, Dixie packs her bags and heads home to Kenna Springs.

Once there, we meet the whole wacky family, including Uncle Rudd, his wife Aunt Nissa, and Aunt Connie, who is apparently suffering from mental “episodes” set off by finding the only man she’s ever loved murdered in her very own shop. It isn’t long before Dixie learns that her relatives have wrapped up Aaron’s body in pink cellophane and hid him in the flower cooler. They knew how it would look to the police if Connie was found standing over her ex-fiancé’s dead body, and they were simply trying to keep her out of jail. The Tanners have determined to solve this mystery on their own. Once they do, they’ll go to the sheriff with the evidence to prove Connie’s innocence and put the killer away.

There are several suspects in town to choose from, including the eight men who were present at Aaron’s bachelor party all those years ago. Then there’s Freedom, an outsider who recently came to town and is renting a room from Aunt Connie. As the Tanners get closer to solving the mystery, it becomes clear that the murderer will stop at nothing to prevent the truth from coming out, even if it means killing every one of the Tanner clan.

Between moving the body several times, coming up with hairbrained ways to avoid the police, slapstick dialogue and amateur sleuthing, MAY COOLER HEADS PREVAIL reads like an episode of “The Andy Griffith Show.” The best word to describe it is quirky. But it’s also a lot of fun. After a bumpy start, with quite a bit of backstory and much telling, the story evolves into an entertaining ride. The characters grow on you and become more endearing as the plot moves along. Definitely several chuckles, and maybe even a few laugh-out-loud moments throughout.

The Barbour Hometown Mysteries tagline is “where love and suspense meet.” But romance fans will be disappointed. The closest this book comes to romance is merely hinting at the possibility of Dixie finding love after the story ends. Suspense isn’t necessarily a component, either, even in the climax. But MAY COOLER HEADS PREVAIL will satisfy mystery lovers looking for a quick, fun puzzle with plenty of quirky and memorable characters to go around.

Perhaps most notable about this book is that the author, Teri (T.L.) Dunnegan, did not live to see her first novel in print, as she passed away in 2006. This novel reveals Teri’s sense of humor and her writing talent. Although fans of MAY COOLER HEADS PREVAIL will not get the privilege of waiting for the next book by T.L. Dunnegan, readers should feel blessed to have been graced with the end result of her life-long dream of being a published author.