As a writer, you know it’s going to be a pretty good day when you get the news that your new book has received a 5-star rating from Readers Favorites.

And it will be an even better day when your first book achieves the ranking.

Jill M. Lyon learned Tuesday, July 27, her book, “The Summer Festival is Murder,” had earned the distinction. The book was released yesterday, Aug. 3.

“I got goosebumps when I heard the news,” Lyon said. “This book isn’t going to change your life, but I hope it will offer an entertaining read.”

The book is set in a small town in Oregon, similar to one she lived in not long ago. While it provides entertainment and a mystery to be solved, Lyon said she also covers the way small towns in the United States are surviving.

“The internet has done a lot to change things,” she said. “I worry about these small towns. Those with populations of 3,000 or 4,000 are really struggling. That is part of the book.”

Lyon and her husband Ralph Grutzmacher have lived in Fountain Hills for about two years. They moved from Oregon to the community in March 2019. Just as they were getting up and running in their new town, COVID-19 hit.

“It changed things, definitely,” she said. “But fortunately, I was in the middle of writing the book, so I had a ready-made reason to finish it.”

In the summary of the book, “Big-city transplant Felice Bowes is as shocked as everyone else when a controversial local official is viciously killed during the biggest festival of the season. She’s even more surprised when the local police chief asks her to help with the investigation, especially when she didn’t like the victim and some of the locals would like her to be the guilty party. But while gathering information and interviewing fellow residents, she's most worried about the effects of the crime on a community already on the razor's edge of solvency, and her own safety.”

Lyon said the book is written in the first person, and Felice Bowes will be an ongoing character.

“I’ve started the second book,” she said. “The publisher said they are interested in developing this as a series.”

Lyon has a solid background in writing. She started her career in Tulsa, Okla., as a broadcast journalist, anchoring a news desk in that city. She earned her journalism degree from the University of Tulsa.

She later moved out of journalism and into law, graduating from Georgetown Law. She practiced law and served as an advocate in Washington, D.C., for 20 years. She met her husband in D.C. He also is an attorney.

After 20 years in the nation’s capital, the couple decided to start a new phase in their life.

They lived in Oregon for nearly 10 years but decided they had moved on and wanted another direction.

“We’re now in the second new phase of our lives,” Lyon said.

They had traveled to Arizona on a “fact-finding mission,” discovering Fountain Hills.

“We really liked the community,” she said. “After we had made the decision to leave Oregon, we came out here and found a house we really liked,” she said.

The couple has already jumped into activities here. Lyon recently joined Friends in the Hills women’s club, as well as the local chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution.

She said she hopes to speak at local clubs and organizations about her book.

Grutzmacher worked in the census last year, learning all about the valley. He is “very into” model railroading and is active in the McCormick Ranch Railroad Park model railroad organization.

Lyon and Grutzmacher live in the community with their two retired racing Greyhounds, Tamerin and Reece, and their two cats Edward and Bella. The dogs frequent the local dog park and enjoy engaging other dogs in a race around the park. The Greyhounds have a perfect record of winning.

“The Summer Festival is Murder” is available online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, indiebound.com, bookshop.org and bookdepository.com. It is published by Atmosphere Press and is available as a trade paperback or as an eBook.

Depending on e-sales, Ingram, the book’s distributor, may place Lyon’s books in brick and mortar stores.

More information is available at Lyon’s website jillmlyonauthor.com. She also can be reached at jillmlyonauthor@gmail.com.