About Jess Lourey I spent my formative years in Paynesville, Minnesota, a small town not unlike the Murder by Month series' Battle Lake. I currently live in St. Cloud, Minnesota, where I teach Literature and Sociology full time at the local college. When not raising my wonderful kids, teaching, or writing, you can find me gardening and navigating the niceties and meanities of small-town life. I am a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, The Loft, and Lake Superior Writers.