psych-social-worker, wisconsin, schizophrenia, therapy-dog, law-enforcement, murder-investigation, small-town not an unbiased review: I live in Wisconsin, I share job history with author, daughter is a social worker. Use of present tense very disconcerting much of the time, other than that, I loved the way the mystery played out! Complex characters that many of us could have met and interacted with, solid plot with misdirections, twists, and outright red herrings all add up to a very fine read. No spoilers here. I requested and received a free ebook copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

Night Shift is a super mystery with some interesting characters and it is a great second instalment in this entertaining series. Hildy Schneider, a social worker, starts a moonlighting job in small-town Sorenson, Wisconsin, working with the police, supplementing her main employment at Sorenson General Hospital. On her second night, she visits a former patient, Danny Hildebrand, who has suffered from hallucinations for years. Danny believes he’s genuinely being haunted by the victim of a grisly murder he witnessed, but did nothing to prevent the killing. But when a body shows up in a neglected farmhouse with parts of the head missing, complex protagonist Hildy and Detective Bob Richmond start following the leads. Having previously read the series opener, Needled to Death in the 'Helping Hands Mysteries' I found this one, Night Shift, equally engrossing. There were several levels to this mystery and it contained a lot of depth and grittiness for a cozy. I loved Annelise Ryan's portrayal of Hildy and I liked her for her sympathetic, sunny nature and hard-working ethos. The story was extremely satisfying with snippets of humour, and a soupçon of romance, alongside some very good twists. I'm very keen to read the next in the series! I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Kensington Books via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.