Homemaker (Prairie Nightingale)
by Ruthie Knox and Annie Mare

About Homemaker

Homemaker (Prairie Nightingale)
Mystery/Amateur Sleuth/Romantic Elements
1st in Series
Setting – Green Bay, Wisconsin
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thomas & Mercer (June 1, 2025)
Paperback Print length ‏ : ‎ 300 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1662530900
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1662530906
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DKK5TWT5

When a former friend and devoted mother vanishes, a confident homemaker turned amateur sleuth follows an unexpected trail of scandals and secrets to find her.

Prairie Nightingale is both the midlife mother of two teenage girls and a canny entrepreneur who has turned homemaking into a salaried profession. She’s also fascinated with the gritty details of other people’s lives. So when seemingly perfect Lisa Radcliffe, a member of her former mom-friends circle, suddenly disappears, it’s in Prairie’s nature to find out why.

Given her innate talent for vital pattern recognition, Prairie is out to catch a few clues by taking a long, hard look at everyone in Lisa’s life—and uncovering their secrets. Including Lisa’s. Prairie’s dogged curiosity is especially irritating to FBI agent Foster Rosemare, the first interesting man Prairie has met since her divorce. His square jaw and sharp suits don’t hurt.

But even as the investigation begins to wreak havoc on Prairie’s carefully tended homelife, she’s resolved to use her multivalent homemaking skills to solve the mystery of a missing mom—and along the way discover the thrill of her new sleuthing ambitions.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Following her divorce, Prairie Nightingale establishes a unique co-parenting arrangement with her ex-husband, Greg, for their tween and teen daughters. It includes Greg’s mother continuing to live with Prairie and the girls. Prairie has also turned homemaking into a profitable business. She used to be friends with several moms and the fundraising chair for the PTO. That all changed when a yearly donation failed to arrive, and she uncovered criminal activity that sent a local doctor to jail. You see, Prairie observes things other people miss, and then she needs to know all the details.

When Prairie learns that one of the moms has disappeared, she desperately feels the need to help. Lisa Radcliffe appeared to have the perfect life. A successful husband and business owner in her own right. Prairie knows her old friends may talk to her more easily than the police. Her mother-in-law has talents that can help uncover even more about the people in Lisa’s life. After meeting FBI Agent Foster Rosemare at a vigil for Lisa, they set up to meet to exchange information and get to know each other better. Prairie feels drawn to the handsome agent in the suit.

Soon, secrets are revealed, critical observations are made, and Prairie knows she is on the right track. She is getting so close to the truth. Will she solve the mystery? Or will she be the next mom to disappear?

Prairie Nightingale is a smart, inquisitive, fun woman who can think on her feet. She made a hard decision that cost her most of her friends, but it was the right decision. She is a woman I would love to be friends with. Her husband, Greg, is a good guy, and following their split, they are striving to become good friends.   Prairie “retained” her mother-in-law, Joyce, in the divorce. She lives in a separate apartment attached to the family home. Joyce lives a very active life but is on hand to help with the girls, Prairie and Greg, too. It’s an interesting situation that works for them. FBI Agent Foster Rosemare is a nice addition to the mix. He’s not exactly sure what to make of Prairie at first. He wants her to leave the investigation to him. I found their banter to be delightful. They build a slow trust in each other as they each bring different perspectives to HIS case.

The mystery the authors have penned starts early in the story and flows well from chapter to chapter. Prairie was so driven that someone called Greg to try to get his wife to back off. It was interesting that several moms were involved in the multilevel marketing business, Kitty Blue, and part of Lisa’s downline. Connections that may have played into her disappearance. I enjoyed that Joyce was so tech-savvy and willing to use her skills to help Prairie. Prairie also gets a hand from a high school podcaster who is wise beyond her years. When Foster saw everything that Prairie was bringing to the table and the theories she was offering, he had no choice but to listen and explore the details she provided. Getting a bird’s eye view into Prairie’s thought processes and the way she worked each clue, each piece of paper, and each photograph was both entertaining and educational.

One of the best things is that the story takes place in my neck of the woods. Green Bay isn’t that far away, and our family has visited several fun places and attended Packer football games a lot over the years. I appreciate that the authors fictionalized some things about the town, but for someone who doesn’t live there, I feel they captured it well. Like Prairie, I didn’t know there was an FBI Field Office there.

The Homemaker concept was unusual and at times confusing.  Following the divorce, a trust was established. Prairie and Greg were partners, with her having all the power to make day-to-day decisions. She hires people and pays them an equitable wage to handle everything for a successful household. She is the CEO, complete with business cards and staff meetings. A chef, a gardener, an accountant/manager, a child caregiver, and a handywoman all work for the 724 Maple Project. It was great while Prairie was sleuthing, and it shows how successful her husband truly was to afford all that. For someone who raised four children while working full-time with just a childcare provider when needed, it was crazy and made me green with envy! But there may be a new project in the works. We see in the final chapter that Prairie has been bitten by the sleuthing bug.

Homemaker is a mystery with an original take. Filled with an intriguing protagonist with an interesting backstory, engaging supporting characters, and a well-plotted mystery. Add in some humor and a budding romance, and it adds up to a Perfect Escape. The next book, Trailbreaker, is set to be released on February 3, 2026. I am excited to see what the authors have in store for Prairie Nightingale next.

*The story does include some explicit language.

I received this book through Amazon’s First Reads program. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. 

Your Escape Into A Good Book Travel Agent

From Chapter 1

Prairie Nightingale stood on her tiptoes, ignoring the incessant buzz of her phone in the back pocket of her jeans and craning for a better look at Amber Jenkins.

“What do you think of Mrs. Jenkins’s handbag?” she asked her daughter Anabel.

Prairie and Anabel were part of a loose congregation of parents and family members milling around on the paved playground of the K–8 gifted school, waiting for the final release bell. Prairie hated moments like these, when there was a measurable stretch of time but nothing happening and no way to get anything done. An article she’d once read called it “garbage time.” When she was going through her divorce, she’d found a lot of articles like that—about how women’s time was wasted and their labor undervalued—as she tried to understand why the world believed she’d spent her seventeen years as a wife and mother doing essentially nothing.

“I don’t think of Mrs. Jenkins’s handbag.” Anabel looked away from her phone long enough to flick her eyes over to the purse in question. “But if you’re asking me how much it cost, that’s a seven-hundred-dollar bag. Nine, if it’s from this year.”

“Huh.” Prairie watched Amber, whose gaze was fixed in the middle distance as she arranged her ripple of blond hair over one shoulder. Bearing up under her own garbage time. Amber had two kids, like Prairie. She was sharp and irreverent, with a slightly faded tattoo of koi circling a lotus blossom on her shoulder. Once, she’d been Prairie’s favorite among a group of women who went for coffee after school drop-off and got together to make swag bags for the teachers. Prairie had always thought she and Amber had a genuine connection as the two moms in the group without a prestigious education. Both of them knew how to keep track of the drink orders from a ten top.

“Remember a couple of weeks ago when Mrs. Jenkins backed into that Dodge Ram and smashed her taillight?” Prairie asked Anabel.

“No. I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Her daughter’s dry tone failed to disguise a hint of interest. She was not immune to what some called Prairie’s nosiness and what Prairie called her talent at vital pattern recognition.

“Well, that happened. And look.” Prairie angled her head at a dirty black Escalade illegally parked across from the school. “The taillight is still busted.”

“So?”

“Who spends nine hundred dollars on a new handbag and doesn’t get their taillight fixed?”

“I don’t know. Why would I know that?” Anabel squinted in Amber’s direction. “Didn’t she used to carry a Kitty Blue purse?”

“That’s right! The metallic blue crossbody bag with the cat ears. And Kitty Blue is not high dollar.” Prairie had never bought anything from the faddish direct-to-consumer brand, but she was familiar from seeing it hyped on the social media channels of practically every woman she’d ever met. “An upgrade like that begs a lot of questions.”

“Not really. Lots of things could explain it. Maybe someone bought her this new purse because her Kitty Blue one started getting ratty. Or the people who fix cars are too busy. Why do you even care?”

“It’s just something to keep me occupied while we wait for your sister,” Prairie said. “I don’t really care.”

This was a lie. Prairie did care, in the way that you couldn’t help caring about people you’d known for your children’s entire lives who didn’t talk to you anymore and had blocked you from the group chat for reasons you understood but didn’t agree with.

About Ruthie Knox and Annie Mare