April Fools is an engaging murder mystery with an entertaining cast and an intriguing plot. While it can be read as a standalone, some parts may be confusing without the background from previous books.

The mystery unfolds well, though some twists are predictable. Overall, an enjoyable read, especially for those familiar with the series.

My first in the Murder by the Month Romcom Series ( I know,...I'm SO out of order here and know some spoilers now,..) and I LOVED IT.

This series has everything I love:
Cozy mystery
Romantic humor that had me giggling out loud in a coffee shop (many judgey remote workers were displeased)
A plucky FMC

Mira James, aspiring PI, is thrown into the chaos when she finds the word- HELP -scribbled inside an old book. She's thrown into a case that seems to have throw backs to many of her previous adventures, and for a reader that probably followed all these characters over the years- I bet it was heartwarming and fun to relive those adventures.

I will be reading these backwards now, because I guess I love chaos too, just like Mira. I'm looking forward to more in series, so a thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read this one and be introduced to a whole new world of fun rom-com mysteries!

April Fools
By Jess Lourey
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pub Date: March 24, 2025

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer Publishing for the advanced digital copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

After the March of Crimes book, I wasn’t excited to jump into this one. The title appealed to me on a personal level, and I clicked ‘request’ before I could stop myself.

As like the last one, it’s a very simple whodunnit mystery set in a small Minnesota town. Bland.

Schitts-Creek vibes. Some hilarity surrounding the main character’s octogenarian best friend.

Read if: you are looking for a clean, witty whodunnit mystery with no shocking twists and zero loose ends.

It is the last day 12 book series that held up just as good as the rest of them!! I wanted to talk to you too I just want to say I'm sorry things Taylor

April Fools is the final installment of Lourey's Mira Grant series and I'll be honest, I didn't want to start it because I wasn't looking forward to leaving Battle Creek and the zany cast of characters behind. The blessing is that this novel wraps up the series well, with all the humor and hijinks a reader can expect from Mira and crew.

This is a great, warm read, and the entire series is worthy of reading and rereading.

The final book of the Murder by Month series. This one wasn’t as laugh out loud funny as the others but still a great Mira and Mrs Berns installment.

More mystery in this one, Mira is out to rescue a missing young lady that turns into a much broader rescue mission in the end.

It also ends up hitting closer to home for Mira! And I love the closure it brings to the February book!

I love this series and good news for me I read them out of order so I still have the first few to go back and read!!

Mira James has unfortunately discovered a corpse (inadvertently of course) every month. As a result her town is getting labeled as the most dangerous in the State and powers that be are not happy. Minnesota has got the nefarious distinction of being the state with very high sex trafficking and now Mira is getting proof that her town is having its own share of predators and victims. Worst of all is the suspicion that her own father, now dead, was also in the Gang of Four.

Also on the trail is Mrs Berns the indomitable old librarian determined to have her share of the action. Despite its serious content and very real tragedy, the story has comedic elements too adding to its charm.

The book starts rather abruptly which, at first, I though was a stylistic choice. It wasn't until I made it to the middle of second chapter that I realized this might be a sequel of some kind; something that wasn't obvious to me from the blurb. The more I kept reading, the more information I realized I was missing by not having read the 11 past books. Who were all these characters - I had no idea, and it seemed like the author didn't really care to introduce me to them either. Unfortunately, after a while, it sort of became unbearable.

I'm sure there's a great audience for fans of cozy mysteries and quirky characters, I just didn't have the time to read eleven previous books so I could enjoy this one.

Thank you Jess Lourey and Thomas & Mercer to allow me to read this ARC via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
I'm rating this book 3.25⭐ (3 for the sake of this review.)
Was an enjoyable, quick, and engaging read.
April Fools is the 12th book in a series of "Murder by Month" books. I haven't read any of the other books in the series and feel like I'm missing some of the background information on some of the characters, but it was easy to follow the main storyline otherwise. I will probably go back and read the rest of the series now.
Mrs. Burns is probably my favorite in this book, such a funny old lady and definitely brings the comedy in this very serious topic book.
A couple of things that affected my review:
- I am not a fan of reading certain abbreviations ("This AM" should have been "this morning".)
- This book is advertised as a mystery AND romance but there really wasn't too much romance besides a couple scenes with Mira and her boyfriend, but nothing too crazy. I personally wouldn't consider this a romance at all.

I’ve read the first few books in this series and have absolutely enjoyed them. They’re cute, they’re fun, they’re engaging, and each one includes a clever, who done it to solve along the way. If you’re looking for something fun and cozy this is it.

I laughed my sox off once again with this addition to the Murder By Month series! Mira is thirtysomething librarian and her sidekick, Mrs. Berns, is a zany nonagenarian. Together they have managed to find and solve a number of murders in their small northern Minnesota town while keeping me in stitches and away from the news media. Lots of backstory, enjoyable characters, and a well done investigation with plenty of sneaky twists.
I requested and received a temporary uncorrected e-proof from Thomas & Mercer via NetGalley.
#AprilFools by @jesslourey #MurderByMonthRomcomMysteriesBk12 #ThomasandMercer
#Cozy Mystery #laughyoursoxoff #CrimeThriller #romcomescape #NetGalley #MinnesotaNice #HumorousSuspense #RomcomMystery @goodreads @bookbub @librarythingofficial #smalltown @barnesandnoble #nonagenarian ***** #Review @booksamillion @bookshop_org #library #unputdownable @bookshop_org_uk #CozyCrime #MiraJamesMystery #HumorousSuspense #LaughAMinute

Mira James has been connected one way or another to a murder every month in, and even outside of, her adopted hometown of Battle Lake. The locals talk about it, the police chief is more than suspicious, but now the streak may tank the town's rating as a vacation destination. That A+ rating is hanging by a thread, but Mira has a mystery to solve, one that begins and ends with unsettling discoveries about her father, who killed a woman and himself while driving drunk. Through a series of twists and turns, Mira uncovers an ugly plot that endangers the lives of several young women and – of course – leads to another dead body. She also faces some hard truths about herself and her on-again, off-again relationship with heart-throb Johnny Leeson.
Jess Lourey wraps up the Murder by Month series with this hilarious, heart-warming and satisfying 12th installment. Will there be more Mira James adventures? She seems to leave the door open in a personal note at the end of the book. I hope so. Like the 11 books before it, April Fools is a light, funny, and romantic adventure. We need more of those.

The best one yet!

Mira and Mrs. Berns tackle their most serious case yet in a way that left me in stitches. Mrs. Berns is a zany, but loyal, sidekick and Mayor Kenny Rogers almost makes me like politicians. I hate to see such a highly entertaining series coming to an end.

This review is for the 2025 revised edition of the book. I received a free copy but my review is honest and voluntary.

So I was confused by the two different copyright dates, but I guess this book is a revised edition with editorial revisions.

I was also happy to see that I am not the only person who didn’t realize this was the last book in the series “Murder by Month Mystery”.

All that being said, I really enjoyed this book. So much so that I read it in two days. I had a hard time putting it down, but you know, adulting got in the way.

I love the town, the quirky characters and found myself laughing at how the FMC, Mira came up with her recipes for the paper and then had to figure out how to make it more “Minnesotan”. I also found it amusing that the paper assigned her a story on “bigfoot” and she just rolled her eyes. At least she was getting paid.

I was a little confused by her relationship with her boyfriend but she even admitted that when things were going great, she self-sabotages herself or does a runner.

As for the mystery, I’m not going to lie. It dealt with some uncomfortable realities but I was glad the author didn’t shy away from them.

I do think that this is a series I would like to start from the beginning. Somehow I don’t think knowing how the series ended will take anything away from the other books.

Also, I hope I’m half as cool as Mrs. Berns when I grow up. That woman knows how to dole out some wisdom!

#AprilFools #JessLourey #NetGalley #SmallTown #QuirkyCharacters #LaughOutLoud #Mystery #AdultFiction

Another enjoyable quick read featuring Mira James and other residents of Battle Lake, MN. This was my second read part of the Murder by Month Mystery series. Although I did not read every book in the series, it was nice to see how the character development and progression of relationships amongst the main and supporting characters played out. I was left with a small feeling of wanting more from the ending but overall it was a satisfying read.

Aspiring P.I. Mira James doesn't seem to have a problem upon dead bodies, she would actual love a break from it. Things aren't looking good when she comes across a note that has to do with a librarian who vanished as well as her father who died 13 years ago. When a young girl disappears that just adds to the mystery of what she is already dealing with. She knows she must delve deep into her investigation to figure out who is behind all these happenings. Will she come to a definitive conclusion before someone else ends dead?

April Fools by Jess Lourey was a fun and humorous cozy mystery.
A riveting mystery with an intriguing plot, packed with witty storytelling and characters you’ll instantly fall in love with.
Another great mystery and I love how the characters are developing over the series.

The long awaited final Murder by Month cozy romcom mystery has finally arrived! In the grand finale, Mira discovers an ominous note in a returned library book that mentions the original Battle Lake librarian who disappeared a year ago, as well as her father. Then girls start disappearing as well as some other odd things and Mira, Mrs. Berns and Kennie Rogers jump into action.

I've looked forward to these books every month and especially the final chapter, these hilariously quirky and heartfelt characters have really grown on me and I'm sure going to miss them if this is the last book in the series. But the way this book ends leads me to believe they have more to tell us. I also heard some rumours there might be a lucky 13th book and I would definitely enjoy that!

This was my first murder by month and my first Jess Lourey book, and I found this story fun and cozy.

A small town, loveable characters and a string of mysterious events it's hard to hate a book like this. I found it hard to get into, and it took me quite a while to figure out what the main conflict of this book was, but once I got about 50% of the way through it I devoured the rest. My favourite part of this story was the characters; they were funny, and while I didn't have a lot of the context to their relationships from the previous books, I was still able to understand and enjoy their interactions.

This book was the last installment of the "Murder by Month" series, and while I would definitely suggest reading the previous books first, this book also performed well as a stand-alone!

Over all a good cozy read.

I would recommend checking the trigger warnings for this book as well as there are some pretty dark/heavy themes in the story.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher Thomas & Mercer for an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

April Fools by Jess Lourey is part of a series called the Murder by Month Romcom Mystery. Normally I like to follow a series in order, but knew that each book acts as a standalone. It was impressive to read this story, the 12th installment, and not feel lost with the characters.

Unfortunately, this book was not tailored for me. NetGalley only lists it as part of the “Murder by Month Mystery”, but Goodreads categorizes it as part of the “Murder by Month Romcom Mystery”. Had I known this was a romcom, I would have chosen a different arc. However, for readers who enjoy romcoms, then this book or Jess Lourey’s series hits the spot.

Personally, I did not enjoy the character names because they felt too plain, like Bob or Karen. Also, the phrases used such as “sashayed”, “Christ on a cracker”, or descriptions of a man’s parts while wearing only a towel did not enhance my enjoyment. I’m not sure if I should have read the previous books to better understand who is the right match for Mira, but her current boyfriend throws major red flags for me - I would have preferred a different man for her. I still can’t wrap my head around the title either since I didn’t see any comparison to the actual story.

I believe this author has the potential to write an engaging mystery or thriller book if she ever decides to diverge from romcom. After reading the author’s note, I don’t think she plans to move away from romcoms - and honestly, I hope she continues writing them because she clearly love doing so. And as a reader that fills my heart.