The Body in Black Lake

The Hawkins Family Mysteries: Book 3

Advance Reader Copy

Genres

Cozy Murder Mystery, Rural Suspense, Amateur Sleuths, Whodunnit, and Novels

Trigger Warnings

Death, Profanity, and Violence

Type of Ending

Series

The Hawkins Family Mysteries — Book 3

Series Read Order

Reading prior books is not required

Author Prefers A Review On

Goodreads, Amazon, or BookBub

Reader Spots Remaining

Number of days to read

Publication Date

Mar 31, 2026

Page Length

270 pages

Available Formats

ePub and PDF

The Body in Black Lake

The Hawkins Family Mysteries: Book 3

Advance Reader Copy

Blurb

Riddle: What do Thanksgiving, a missing hunter, paella, a blizzard, and murder all have in common?

The Hawkins family is looking forward to a quiet Thanksgiving weekend. Instead, they get unexpected guests, strangers shooting at them, neighbors going missing, and a blizzard… not to mention a dead body found in the black waters of their lake! Harry vows to stay out of it, but when the cops confiscate his guns “as evidence,” he's left with nothing to do over the holiday weekend except investigate murder.

Ride along with Liz and Harry as they, once again, help the police with their inquiries.

Details

Genres

Cozy Murder Mystery, Rural Suspense, Amateur Sleuths, Whodunnit, and Novels

Trigger Warnings

Death, Profanity, and Violence

Type of Ending

Series

The Hawkins Family Mysteries — Book 3

Series Read Order

Reading prior books is not required

Author Prefers A Review On

Goodreads, Amazon, or BookBub

Reader Spots Remaining

Number of days to read

Publication Date

Mar 31, 2026

Page Length

270 pages

Available Formats

ePub and PDF

Author

D.L. McKown is the author of the Hawkins Family Mysteries series of cozy mysteries, the first of which was a Spring 2024 winner in The Bookfest Awards. His upbringing in the rural counties of southeast Michigan informs the settings for the series, and the many bizarre (often dangerous) incidents over those formative years inspire the plots.

D.L.'s day job is swamped in computer technology, smashing bugs out of code, and daily Zoom calls, so when writing he drops as much of that as possible. He prefers, instead, to focus on family interactions and forcing his characters into face-to-face confrontations. His love of blues music also creeps through on occasion.