Cover of Shady Hollow. Fox in center, surrounded by trees.

Shady Hollow Mysteries

Posted on November 27, 2023| By | In Book Reviews

Looking for a new cozy-fantasy / cozy-mystery read but don’t know where to start? Try Juneau Black’s Shady Hollow Mysteries Series, where small town charm meets murder mystery but with a twist. All of our characters are animals, like Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit or Brian Jacques’ Redwall Series. The Herald’s ace reporter Vera Vixen, amateur detective, won’t let the unknown stop her as she gets to the bottom of these cases that keep popping up in the harmonious town of Shady Hollow.

Cover of Shady Hollow. Art style is whimsical. There are two trees on either side of a female fox in the center. There is a lake below her, and two characters pictured above her (

Shady Hollow. Black, Juneau. New York : Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2022.©℗♭2015.

This is the first book in this cozy fantasy/mystery series where we first meet the woodland residents of Shady Hollow.

Shady Hollow is an idyllic place to live, until murder stirs up the harmony that is normally felt in this town. Reporter Vera Vixen has a nose for news and knows that the residents of Shady Hollow deserve the truth – and so do the victims. So, she begins her own investigation while trying to discover the truth (and not agitate Deputy Orville) and uncovers mysteries of the residents of Shady Hollow that they would rather have stayed secret.

Cover of Cold Clay. Artwork is whimsical. The center character is a moose, with bones in the ground below him, trees on either side of him, and two characters in the corners at the top.

Cold Clay. Black, Juneau. New York : Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2022. ©2017.

Set against the beautiful autumnal background of Shady Hollow, a cold case shakes up life again when a skeleton is found in the apple grove.

Vera sets her sights on solving this cold case in order to save her friend Joe from the easy out of framing him for his wife’s murder. As Vera begins to piece together a decade old puzzle, truths and secrets begin to emerge that some neighbors of Shady Hollow would rather have stayed dead and buried.

Cover of Mirror Lake. The main character in the center of the cover is a bear, with rats or mice on the branches of the trees beside him. Above is an owl and two other creatures, and below are broken off columns and a gravestone.

Mirror Lake. Black, Juneau. New York : Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, 2022. ℗♭2020.

With an election season causing tension to rise in Shady Hollow and a resident convinced that her husband is actually an imposter, Vera has a lot to report for The Herald in Black’s next novel.

Vera doesn’t dismiss the claims of mistaken identity but she must tread carefully since a nosy, oblivious, author is butting in and a sinister presence is wanting everything to stay in the dark.

Cover of Twilight Falls. In the center are two creatures, almost holding hands. Above are a panda and a porcupine, and a mountain, and below is a pond.

Twilight Falls. Black, Juneau. New York : Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2023. (not available at ACPL yet)

Vera Vixen is loving springtime in Shady Hollow, because love is in the air, both for her and Police Chief Orville Braun, and for the young sweethearts Jonah Atwater and Stasia von Beaverpelt. When Jonah’s father, Shelby, perishes by going over the falls, Stasia is the prime suspect. Vera finds herself on the other side from Orville in this case. Will true love prevail?

Cover of EverGreen Chase. Center of the cover is a fox, with a couple of creatures above her, evergreen trees on either side, and a large stump below her.

EverGreen Chase. Black, Juneau. New York: Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2021. (available for Kindle only)

In this winter novella the chances of the winter cheer for Shady Hollow going off without a hitch should be easy, until the solstice tree has disappeared without a trace! Can Vera and her friends figure out who would want to take away all of the town’s winter cheer?

This is a festive, Christmas flavored, cozy mystery that is low stakes.

Fans of Beatrix Potter and Agatha Christie should enjoy this series. Most are available as hard copy books that can be placed on hold with your library account. There are more titles in the series that ACPL does not carry at the moment, but patrons are able to request the library to purchase it online or with staff. Book 5, Summers End, is coming out in July 2024.

Kayleigh Dyer is a Library Technical Processing Assistant at May Memorial Library. Contact her at kdyer@alamancelibraries.org.