I didn't initially realise that this is the second book in a series and I think I need to read book one before giving this one another try.
My mistake that I fully intend to rectify asap!

The second in the series and I would absolutely warn you that this is a series where the mystery is self contained in each book but there is character development from book to book and I would say I would absolutely start with book one in this series.

Gemma Monroe is a new mom and in this book starts after her maternity is ending and she is headed back to do what she does best, detective work in the small Colorado town. Right as she returns to work there is a dead body and she is off to races. With her partner Finn, she is having to balance being a new mom, a domestic partner and a detective.

This mystery was interesting and again it was interweaving in and out of the community and unfolded in just the right pace. It was so interesting to have it circle around an academy, but not completely focus on the students inside. And again in this book like in book one there seems to possibly be more than one mystery to be solved and they may affect each other, but maybe not!

I enjoyed book two more than book one and it made me more excited to know that there is more to come!

You are in for a great treat when you read A Season to Lie: A Detective Gemma Monroe Mystery. Reading a novel that takes place in the wilds of Colorado always reminds me of The Shining. There is something foreboding and threatening about a dark and mountainous setting.
A famous author has been found stabbed through the torso and pinned to a tree at a prestigious private high school located in a small mountain town in Colorado. The cops investigate the victim and the crime. The investigation unfurls and keeps the reader intimately involved with the multiple leads that must be followed, even when some are fruitless.
This is the second in the Detective Gemma Monroe Novels. A Season to Lie is an absorbing and fun police procedural. I recommend it as a standalone, without hesitation. I also suggest that you read the first in the series; Inherit the Bones. Both books are well-written and provocative mysteries by a new and most capable mystery writer.

Emily Littlejohn is becoming a favorite author! I had a very different response to this book than I did to the first book in the series, but in a good way. I remember the previous title as putting me on the edge of my seat. This title didn't involve the same level of action until very near the end. That made perfect sense given the change in status of main character Gemma Monroe. The changes in her job and her relationships because of recent motherhood were deftly presented by Littlejohn so they were completely realistic. I was surprised to realize how long it took me to find the solution to the mystery this time. There are more than enough topics of discussion to make this a good book club choice. I really look forward to reading about Gemma's next case. Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur books for providing pre-pub access!!

The second book in the Detective Gemma Monroe series, this book is just a good as the first in the series. I look forward to more books from Emily Littlejohn about Gemma and her Colorado Rocky Mountain town, Cedar Valley.

Minotaur Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of A Season to Lie. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

I like Detective Gemma Monroe, but do not this that this particular book showcases her abilities and her character all that much. Returning to work after maternity leave is challenging for any new mother, but it presents its own set of problems for the detective. A dead body on her first day back was not what Gemma was expecting, especially when the identity of the victim is discovered. When some incidents at a local academy capture the attention of the police, will their investigation yield some surprising results?

As far as character development goes, Gemma does not really progress all that much in this book. There were too many side plots in A Season to Lie, which took the focus away from the central story. Because I figured out the ending early into the book, I really did not feel all that invested in it. Despite all of this, I would like to read more about Gemma Monroe, as I think her story is not finished. Readers who enjoy police procedural thriller may like A Season to Lie, particularly because of the strong female main character.

Gemma Monroe has just returned to work after her maternity leave when a new murder falls in her lap. And the victim is a highly revered author who has been secretly living in town under a different name! As if that weren’t enough (she’s only supposed to be back part-time after all), some questionable contractors have started doing business in town (mobbed up, maybe???), and her co-worker Sam is being pushed to work for them via his grandfather (definitely mobbed up). While investigating the murder, Gemma starts questioning the roles she has chosen, as a cop, a new mother, a life partner, and is constantly reevaluating her priorities. Meanwhile, the suspect pool is a little deeper than you’d expect in such a small town. Catching this killer is going to be a lot harder than she thought.

There was a great deal of introspection in this book that I really appreciated. Gemma is a new mom who has just returned to work, to a job that she loves fiercely but is extremely dangerous at times. She feels that tug (and the guilt) that come along with being away from a new baby, but she really does love her job so much. Still, balancing childcare with her partner is challenging, and their relationship is feeling some of the bumps that come along with such a big change.

At work, she is trying to find her way back into the fold. She’s been on maternity leave for awhile and she hasn’t kept up with everyone during her absence. Sam had suffered a devastating injury during their last case and can now only do a desk job. Her partner has a new mystery girlfriend, and is behaving differently. Everything has changed just a little, and she doesn’t like having missed out.

I gotta be honest, I guessed who the killer was pretty early on, as well as the motive. But. It was still a decent plot and a fun story to read. This is a series I’ve really enjoyed so far, and I’ll be keeping my eye out for the next in series.

Recommended for anyone who likes something that falls between a cozy and a thriller/mystery. It’s very light on language, sex and gore. Ultra-light, honestly. But moodier and more atmospheric than a cozy.

A Season to Lie is the second book in the Detective Gemma Monroe Mystery series. Trying to ease back into work from maternity leave didn’t go as smooth as Gemma hoped. A simple call to check on a prowler at Valley Academy was anything but simple. She finds the body of a writer that has been hiding in plain sight as a professor at the school. As she investigates, nothing is as it seems. Will she be able to find the murder before he strikes again? This book kept me captivated throughout, and I definitely recommend it.

Police officer Gemma Monroe returns from maternity leave and is immediately plunged back into the job when she finds a dead man at the local private academy. He's been left in the snow, stuck to a tree with a knife in his stomach. The man turns out to be a famous author hiding out in plain sight in Gemma's Colorado town. Even worse, that same private school is being plagued by a vicious bully who calls him or herself "Grimm." Reunited with her partner, Finn, Gemma finds herself dealing with the murder case, the bullying incidents, and a strange construction company--made up mainly of ex-convicts--that seems to have made itself at home in her town. So much for easing herself back into the job...

I very much enjoyed Emily Littlejohn's first Gemma Monroe novel, Inherit the Bones, and was really excited to see the second one come out. It's always exciting to see a realistic female detective portrayed in literature. Gemma is much the same in this second foray--practical and levelheaded. She's back to work after the birth of her daughter, Grace, with whom she was pregnant in BONES. The novel does a great job of portraying a working, breastfeeding mom and giving us a realistic look at the struggles a mom faces when juggling work and motherhood. As a mother who went back to work when her own daughters were young and faced a harried schedule, I really appreciated that about this novel.

Thankfully, I did not encounter a dead body on my first day back, just a lot of meetings! Gemma, of course, takes it all in stride, as she cannot help but enjoy the thrill of the hunt. The novel gives us a lot of reflection and thoughts from Gemma. I'd call this one a bit of a slow-burner. I read it while busy and it took me nearly a week. The storyline wasn't one that had me itching to pick it up and see what happens--there's several divergent plot lines and none feel particularly urgent or overly suspenseful.

A pervasive weariness almost overlays the pages--a reflection of the weather (think snow, all the time) and Gemma's general fatigue as she faces returning to work while juggling having a tiny baby at home. That's not to say the book isn't interesting, because it certainly is. Especially when the case starts to intersect with Gemma and Finn's personal lives--which isn't surprising, considering they are small town police officers/detectives. The Grimm storyline is a bit of a bizarre concept and the resolution, while a total surprise to me, was a bit anticlimactic. A few of the plot threads do tie up a little too easily, but the main case befuddled me throughout the entire novel, so kudos to Littlejohn for that. I had some suspicions, but she convinced me to cast them aside, so I'm always pleased when that happens.

What I enjoyed most about this book was Gemma herself. It's probably obvious that I identify with and like her--I enjoy her steadfast character, even though she also has bouts of anxiety and uncertain times. Seeing her as both a mom and working detective was great. This being a second novel, we're gaining enough recurring characters (Gemma, Finn, Gemma's partner/quasi-husband, Brody, Gemma's grandparents, a few other townspeople) that you recognize them and their quirks. Another plotline is left a bit unresolved, leading me to hope that a third Gemma novel is in the works. Even though this wasn't the most exciting of all mysteries, I found it solid and enjoyable, much like its protagonist. I'd certainly read any Gemma Monroe novel I could get my hands on.

So what are the chances of two crime novels being published within a month of each other, both featuring small-town police detectives named Gemma, each investigating the murder of a high school teacher? Nor do the similarities between Emily Littlejohn's A Season to Lie (St. Martin's/Minotaur, digital galley) and Sarah Bailey's The Dark Lake (Grand Central, digital galley) end there. Both Gemmas have live-in boyfriends with whom they have a child, both face on-the-job challenges, both are attractive, determined and flawed. And both deal with bad weather, although that means different things to the detectives. Gemma Monroe (A Season to Lie) battles blizzards in Cedar Valley in Colorado, while Gemma Woodstock (The Dark Lake) has to worry about a Christmas heat wave and wildfires in the Australian town of Smithson.  A Season to Lie is the second outing for Monroe, who was six months pregnant in Littlejohn's Inherit the Bones. Now that baby Grace is three months old, her mom is hoping to ease back into work, but on her first night back, she and her partner discover a murdered man on the snowy campus of a private high school. The victim is famous author Delaware Fuente, a visiting lecturer using an alias while at Valley Academy. Fuente has other secrets, as do the close-knit townspeople who are split over the question of development by outsiders. There's also an anonymous bully known as Grimm, who is terrorizing the academy students. And does another death mean a serial killer is at work? It's a neatly plotted procedural. from On a Clear Day I Can Read Forever 11/20/17

Summary from Goodreads:

"In Emily Littlejohn's follow-up to her acclaimed debut, Inherit the Bones, police officer Gemma Monroe has just returned to work from maternity leave. And what a first day back: a blizzard is blowing into her idyllic Colorado ski town, and while Gemma hopes for a quiet, warm evening in, she knows it will mean plenty of calls out for snow-related accidents. But when an anonymous caller reports seeing a lurker at the local high school, Gemma gets far more than she bargained for. Behind the school building, half covered in a drift of snow, lies the gruesomely murdered body of a world-famous author—whose presence in town was meant to be a secret."

My Thoughts:

I was really looking forward to this book after enjoying Inherit the Bones so much last year (book one in this series). It was funny because I realized while reading this book that I had forgotten some of the details from book one although nothing major. I just went back and read my thoughts on it - I gave it five stars and wrote a glowing review so yeah....I would say I enjoyed it. I can honestly say that I enjoyed this book almost as much as that beginning read. It begins with Gemma returning from maternity leave back to police duty. On almost the very first day that she returns a huge snowstorm hits the area and in the midst of it Gemma and her partner get called out and find a body. I'm a huge sucker for mysteries set in the cold and especially in the midst of a snowstorm so honestly the author had me right from the beginning. It just gave the book this eerie feeling which I'm now remembering that she also had in book one. Probably another one of the reasons that I am enjoying this series so much!

I really enjoy this author's way with words. There is just something about the way she describes things that I can't seem to get enough of. There is this scene at the beginning of the book where Gemma goes to this home nestled in the woods - the way that the author compares it to a cottage that you would find in a fairy tale just made it all come to life for me. It's funny because I guessed the killer early on in the book without really believing that I was right. I spent the majority of the book trying to figure out who the killer was then only coming to the end and realizing I had been right in the first place. Go figure! But at least it kept that level of tension that I prefer when I'm reading mysteries and thrillers. I read a slightly negative review on this book that left me a bit surprised but I don't believe that the reader had read both books. Ultimately, I do think that this is a series where you need to read them in order just because so much carries over from the first book to the second. I definitely felt differently and actually really enjoyed this book a lot!

This series has turned into a real winner for me! Two books in and I'm definitely planning on reading the third...just as soon as it comes out that is. I still think that the first book was my favorite so far but this was a really great follow-up. It also really got me in the mood for winter with all of the talk about snowstorms and snow. I love the snow so I'm more than ready for winter to hit although I will take fall weather any day! I can easily recommend this book but do read Inherit the Bones first to get the full reading experience. Highly recommended!

Bottom Line: Another great addition to this series which has become a favorite of mine!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.

Last year I had the pleasure of reading Littlejohn’s debut, Inherit the Bones and absolutely fell in love with Gemma and the town of Cedar Valley. There is something tragically poetic about the authors style then you combine that with a classic murder mystery feel and you have a wonderful juxtaposition that makes for a captivating read.

This picks up three months after Gemma has given birth to her daughter Grace, right as she’s about to head back to work. Her struggle to balance being a new mom and maintain a healthy separation between work and home is so very relatable and her and Brody’s relationship is far from perfect, especially as they adjust to parenthood. Naturally there is a murder the same day Gemma returns, there is no easing back into the job as she had hoped. Besides the murder investigation Gemma stumbles upon a horrific bully at the high school where the murder was committed. The tyrant goes by Grimm as in the brothers Grimm and doles out punishments based on fairy tales. Plenty going on here and the subplots added intrigue to an already interesting storyline.

This would be perfect to curl up with during the colder months, it’s the dead of winter in Cedar Valley and the setting is so well crafted that it’s practically a character of its own. A murder set against a series of blizzards makes a chilling combination and while it wasn’t twisty in the truest sense of the word, it still kept me on my toes and eager to follow Gemma in the future.

Riveting character-driven police procedural set in February in the Colorado Rockies.

Gemma has just returned from maternity leave to her job as a Cedar Valley Colorado police detective. She is conflicted about letting her baby-daddy and live-in boyfriend work from home while watching her daughter. Her first case is the murder of a famous writer working under an assumed name in an exclusive private prep school in town. At the school, there is also a bully and graffiti artist forcing students to perform weird tasks. Are the two connected?

The characters are well-formed and the mysteries are riveting once past the relatively slow beginning. The endless blizzard and ominously oppressive forest sets the stage for the exciting and unexpected conclusion.

The pacing and focus on character and setting reminds me of golden age mysteries of Agatha Christie, which I love. However, it is also a good police procedural detailing the methods of small town policing. There is no miraculous DNA analysis leading to the killer here-just old fashioned interviews. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

Thanks to the publisher, Minotaur Books, and Netgalley for an advanced review copy.

It isn't often that a mystery is written like a sweeping saga but this one is. Beautiful writing, great plot, this is an author to follow.

Gemma has just returned from maternity leave, her daughter Grace left in the care of her partner, when a call to a private school about an intruder, leads to the discovery of a body. Gemma and her police partner Finn soon discover it is the body of a famous author, in the town incognito, only a long time friend knew he was there. This discovery will split the plot into many different threads, one including the Brothers Grimm.

The setting is fabulous, a Colorado ski town, massive amounts of snow falling and more already on the ground. Have to say I like reading about snow much better than actually dealing with it. But the star of this series, of which this is the second, is Gemma herself. She is so easy to relate to, a new mother, missing her baby, feeling guilty, but needing to get out and do something. Trying to juggle home, family and her job, often grabbing crap food because there is little time for a proper meal. The pace is brisk, not graphic, but suspenseful enough. A few surprises, though I had an inkling who was involved in the final denoument, though not the full extent of the why.

A good solid new series, with some interesting developments, which I'm sure will be further explored in future books.

ARC from Netgalley.

Detective Gemma Monroe is back at work part-time at the Cedar Valley Police Department, after maternity leave. Only to be to be confronted with a dead body out at the local school on her first shift. It doesn't take long for the body to be identified as a famous author who was visiting the town in disguise.
An okay mystery, easy to read, though I am not sure I cared much for the main character, but an interest to see if my idea behind the murder was correct kept me reading to the end.

This is the second Gemma Monroe mystery, but I have not read the first in the series. This one stands alone reasonably well without too much backstory clogging things up. But I find that this book is soggy and not very interesting. Gemma Monroe has recently returned to work after maternity leave and while the first few chapters give ample time to pumping milk at the office and bathing baby at home, really, the child feels grafted into things just to be fashionable.

The mystery of the book is sufficiently mysterious, but the high school bullying subplot is lame. There is a cryptic clue, or is it a typo, which seems to refer to a wheelchair having only two wheels. Lots of ordinary police procedurals seem to be on hold till Gemma herself can get around to them, not the lab techs or the state offices that would normally be in charge of stuff. Lots of clues lying around waiting for people to get to them.

I won't go out of my way to read more of this series.

I received a review copy of "A Season to Lie: A Detective Gemma Monroe Mystery" by Emily Littlejohn (St. Martin's) through NetGalley.com.

A Season to Lie is the second Detective Gemma Monroe mystery by Emily Littlejohn. It is the first book by Littlejohn that I have read. A Season to Lie was a nice surprise. It is well written and has a good story. The characters all enhance the story.

A Season to Lie follows small ski resort town Colorado police officer Gemma Monroe as she returns to work after maternity leave. It is tough on her heading back after an absence but even tougher when a murder occurs at a local private school. When it turns out that it was a famous author who died, the pressure is on to find the murderer before he hits again. Then a teacher at the school goes missing...

Great characters. I loved that Gemma was dealing with a grandparent with dementia. So many of us deal with that these days. Very realistic.

I highly recommend A Season to Lie. It can easily be read as a stand alone. I am looking forward to the next book in the series!

Although Inherit the bones was a great start to this series I was disappointed in A Season to Lie. This book has a great female character Gemma and loved her BUT this book didn't have the suspenseful thrills I love about thrillers. A decent second to the series but not as intriguing as the first book in the series..

I thought this was a great book from the first page to the last. I loved the concept the author was working with and how she managed to keep the plot twists fresh and exciting. This is one of those books that will have you turning pages wondering if you are right about what is going on or not and holding your breath until you find out.

There were plenty of reasons to love this novel. The characters were interesting and made me want to know more about them even early on in the book. The descriptions were vivid and made me feel like I was there in the midst of things and the unexpected twists were truly unexpected. I love books with a mystery element and this one was one of the best I've read in a while.

As for the murder, things were described well enough to offer me a good picture of what was going on but they weren't disgusting or gruesome. This is definitely a book that I want to read again in the future.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.