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Weddings & Whodunits (2021) by Amanda M. Lee is the 18th installment in the Avery Shaw Mystery series, a cozy-mystery that brings reporter Avery Shaw to the brink of marriage while deepening a case that will test her resolve, her relationships, and her sense of safety. The book matters because it marks a turning point in Avery’s personal life—wedding bells are ringing—but the investigation is as dangerous as ever, blending series-familiar humour with new stakes and new threats.
Setting & Author Context
The novel remains firmly rooted in suburban Michigan’s newsroom world and the wider Macomb County beat, where Avery covers crime, culture, and community. This familiarity gives the story comfort and cadence, but Lee uses that backdrop to twist expectations: weddings feel celebratory, but this one comes with a price. Amanda M. Lee’s style reflects her journalistic background: snarky, fast-moving dialogue, vivid small-town settings, and characters who feel lived-in. As she often does, Lee pits the “ordinary job” reporter against extraordinary threats, showing how the mundane and the deadly can intersect in unexpected ways.
Plot Summary (No Spoilers)
The story opens with a major life moment for Avery: her fiancé, Elliot Kane, is moving their relationship toward the altar, and Avery has to juggle wedding planning with newsroom demands—and a hint that something dark is lurking in the wings. A local drug-dealer is making moves in territory Avery has been covering, and it becomes clear someone has put a target on her back. Meanwhile, Avery must contend with an intern breathing down her neck, her mother inserting herself into wedding details, and the return of Avery’s arch-nemesis, Tad Ludington, stirring trouble from beyond the usual beat. As Avery digs deeper, she realises the case she thought was locked down is very much still alive—and the question shifts from “who did it” to “who wants her silenced before she walks down the aisle?” The tension builds as Avery races against time, balancing personal commitment and professional duty, and the stakes feel higher than ever.
Characters & Themes
- Avery Shaw – A seasoned reporter who has now stepped closer to domestic stability via an impending wedding, while retaining her investigative spunk. She represents the intersection of personal desire and professional danger.
- Elliot Kane – Avery’s fiancé and partner in life and sometimes investigation; he symbolizes the protective risk-taker who must reconcile his love’s job with its hazards.
- Sheriff Jake Farrell – Avery’s longtime friend and law-enforcement ally; here he embodies the institutional friction when a reporter’s curiosity threatens community calm.
- Tad Ludington – An external antagonist back in Avery’s orbit; he represents past threats that refuse to stay buried and how professional enemies can become personal ones.
- The Intern & Avery’s Mother – These secondary players reveal themes of succession and legacy (intern wanting credit) and family expectations vs personal choice (mother steering wedding plans).
Key themes include: commitment and risk, power beneath celebration, and truth when the target is your next milestone. The title suggests both a ceremony (“weddings”) and chaos (“whodunits”), showing that happiness and peril can live side-by-side.
Tropes & Reader Experience
Weddings & Whodunits plays with familiar cozy-mystery tropes—small-town setting, quirky family, journalist sleuth—but adds extra layers: the impending wedding gives the story an emotional pivot, and the threat on Avery’s life adds gravity. The tone remains witty and fast, but the emotional stakes feel deeper: what happens when your dream event becomes a backdrop for crime? The pacing balances banter and danger, allowing fans of the series to enjoy the known world while still feeling the novelty of change. If you like “reporter turned sleuth,” “wedding day chaos,” or “amateurs under real threat,” you’ll appreciate how Amanda M. Lee blends comfort and tension here.
Series Placement / Reading Order
Weddings & Whodunits is Book #18 in the Avery Shaw Mystery series. Here’s the relevant sequence:
- #17: Mayhem & Mistletoe (2020)
- #18: Weddings & Whodunits (2021)
- #19: Hard Hitting & Misleading (2021)
- #20: Fake News & Office Blues (2022)
While each entry can stand alone, reading in order gives fuller back-story on Avery’s progression—from rookie reporter to someone about to marry and still chasing stories. Using the link slug format on BookSeries.blog:/avery-shaw-mystery-series/weddings-and-whodunits/
Reader Suitability / Why Read It
This novel is ideal for readers who enjoy smart, character-driven cozy mysteries with real stakes. If you like female protagonists with a career, humorous side characters, and a plot that mixes big personal events with serious investigation, this book delivers. It appeals to fans of relationships in mysteries, those who appreciate newsroom settings, and anyone who enjoys seeing a long-running series shake things up without losing its heart. The emotional impact comes from seeing Avery balance love and danger, choice and chance, cost and celebration.
Verified Book Facts
- Release year: 2021 (March).
- Publisher: Independently Published.
- ISBN-13: 979-8583151790.
- Pages: ~292 pages.
- Reader consensus: Goodreads shows strong positive reviews with many readers calling it one of the best in the series.
Continue the Avery Shaw Mystery Series
Read other books in the Avery Shaw Mystery Series.