The Hotel South Dakota - A Tory Bauer Mystery - by Kathleen Taylor

I read this one years ago, and thought it quite light and fun. It seemed like a good choice to throw in my bag for our recent road trip to Minneapolis and Rochester, MN, for a new car purchase and our Mayo checkups during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was.

I like the setting of a small East River South Dakota town. I like the time period -- it's about a high school reunion of folks about my age, and both time periods resonate with me. I enjoy the author's humor. The mystery aspects got a little too complex for me, but that seems to be par for the course for me lately.

I laughed out loud a couple of times. But is it a great story or great writing or interesting characters? Not especially. The bad guys are one-dimensional and the good guys are not that interesting. But for light reading on a summer road trip? Perfect way to get away.