Summers End is the fifth book in Juneau Black's Shady Hollow Mystery series. Vera Vixen is temporarily stepping away from her reporter duties to chaperone a school trip to Summers End with her friend Lenore. Summers End is an ancient tomb that is thought to have been built by the early woodland animals. It is the focus of study by many intellectuals in the animal community. While entering the tomb the group stumbles upon a body. Vera and Lenore must join together to solve the murder when Lenore's sister becomes a suspect.

I love this series so much. It remains so inventive and fun. I really look forward to getting new installments and was thrilled to be approved to read this one early. I can't wait to get my physical copy too. Aside from being fun books the artwork on the covers are always beautiful! Vera is one of my favorite leads out of all the cozy mysteries I have read. I loved getting a little insight into how this world of intelligent animals came to be.

Thank you to NetGalley and Vintage for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A new favorite from this series!! These mysteries are perfect for someone in a reading slump. Murder mystery+ cute woodland animals+ a fox detective= a lovely cozy read. I especially enjoyed the dark academia vibes and the prickly professors in Summers End. I grew up being obsessed with archaeology, so the archaeological site and artifacts component of this one was really fun. I sometimes see complaints with this series about it being too predictable. I think the culprit was less obvious in this one than the others in the series. However, I personally don't mind the simple nature of the storylines in this series. The scenery and characters in this series add so much to my enjoyment that I don't feel like I miss elaborate twist and turns. I hope there will be more in the series! Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC!

"Summers End" was an unusual, cozy mystery for me. All the characters are animals living in a world of animals—think modern-day Beatrice Potter creatures, Aesop's fables, or the Hundred Acre Wood without Christopher Robin. I was curious about this mystery because my local bookstore mystery book club selected another one from the same series (A Shady Hollow Mystery) for discussion. I decided to check out what it was all about.

Vera Vixen – a fox - is an intelligent reporter and detective who agrees to chaperone a group of students on their annual field trip to Summers End, an important historical place, a tomb with a significant meaning, especially on the day when the sun is in such a position that the rays enter the tunnel. It's a bit like the Stonehenge monument, but underground, a mystical and important landmark for the animals. Students are supposed to learn an appreciation for their ancestors; however, what awaits them at the underground stone altar is a body, obviously a recent murder victim. With her friends, Vera uncovers the mystery, not forgetting to discover all the charms of the local coffee shops; some descriptions of the excellent pastry in Summers End made me want to go to my local pastry shop.

I enjoyed this story very much. It's a cozy mystery with a good plot and a rather unexpected ending. Vera, a lady fox detective, is a great character. Other memorable characters include a grumpy professor, a poet peacock, a brilliant raven Lenore, and a deer chief inspector. Reading this novel feels fresh and relaxing, just what one expects from a good mystery.

Thank you Net Galley for this ARC. I am loving this series and loved seeing Lenore have some more character development in this story. This one was harder for me to get into but it was worth the read. I didn’t see the ending coming and it was really fun to have new characters.

A charming, slightly dark (in all the best ways), cozy mystery set in a world of walking, talking animals.

Main character Vera Vixen - reporter for the Shady Hollow Herald - gets tapped to help chaperone a school trip to an ancient archeological site. Her chaperoning duties are soon overshadowed by the murder of an important figure in the site’s renowned team of researchers. As Vera uses her nose for journalism to sniff out clues, she uncovers more and more motives but very few answers, and the locals aren’t exactly happy about a tourist asking lots of questions!

This was the first of the Shady Hollow series I’ve read and it was so darn NICE that I’ll be reading all the others sometime very soon. For me, this story was the perfect blend of some of my favorite things. It had the multi-species community of woodland animals that I love from series like Redwall, the wry humor and sharp wit I enjoy when reading Poirot, and a main character whose tenacity and smarts help her solve crimes and discover the truth a la Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, or Enola Holmes.

The subject matter is gentle enough for a middle grade reader, with conversation and twists sharp enough to keep an adult reader interested. This is a book I would recommend to a broad audience. As a librarian I’ll add it to my lists for folks who love animals, mysteries, easy reads, and charming stories.

Summer’s End is a continuation in the Shady Hollow cozy mystery series. This was an enjoyable read.
What I appreciate about Summer’s End is that though there were some situations that I was able to predict, other twists I didn’t see coming. I also liked that the characters were in a setting other than Shady Hollow. I will continue on with this series! Thank you to Netgalley, Knopf, and Vintage for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Vera Vixen has done it again!! I absolutely loved this story because it was a fun twist on the usual mystery. This entire tale takes place at Summers End, so we get to meet almost an entirely new cast in a new, quaint location. I found that I really enjoyed this mystery and the lore that went into the event of Summers End. Another incredibly cozy read!! 🦊🐦‍⬛☀️

Thank you to NetGalley and Vintage for this ARC!!
5 ⭐️

Another delightful component of the Shady Hollow series!

This book had all the elements that I loved about books 1-4 — cozy descriptions, woodland creature characters with personified traits, and a whodunnit murder mystery.

This was the first book in the series in which the majority of the book didn’t take place in Shady Hollow, so I definitely missed that aspect! There was also a decent amount of new characters that were introduced, and I found myself getting a bit confused about who was who. Regardless, I found the ending/murderer reveal to be clean and satisfying.

This is my all time favorite series and I can’t wait to see how it wraps up with the sixth and final book!

(Please note that I will add the link once I post my review to my reviewer profile.)

I so enjoyed being back with our woodland friends but this time not in Shady Hollow. We venture to a new area called Summerhill where every year a historical event takes place, a calendar stone is light by the sun, thus bringing Summers End. The day our troop arrives for a school field trip that Vera happens to be chaperoning there is a murder at the historic site. Vera teams up with our favorite pessimistic raven Lenore and a new mentee Athena. I loved the addition of Athena to give Vera more responsibility to not just keep herself safe, but also a teen. As always how the murder unfolds is discovered by our fave fox reporter and I quite enjoyed the twist with this one!

This series is everything and I loved everything about this book as well and cannot wait for the next one!

Vera agrees to chaperone a trip to Somers and with Lenore. Well, expecting to enter an ancient tomb, the women find what appears to be bones of a recent visitor. Can they find out what happened to the creature the bones belong to, will they follow and add to the pile of bones?

I absolutely adore this series with woodland creatures. It makes for a wonderful mystery, but also a great getaway from reality for a while. I’ve been reading this since the beginning and always look forward to new entry. I just can’t get enough of Shady Hollow and its residents.

Such a wonderful book!! This series is an absolute delight!! Cozy mysteries with a woodland creature theme, literary puns sprinkled throughout, and a rich plotline. Can not wait for the next one!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for access to this e-ARC!!