PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBERT KERR The cover of Robert Kerr’s new novel “A Tidy Little Mess.” The story follows a talented, determined young woman stuck in a dead-end newspaper job who learns of a scandalous rumor about her late grandfather being blamed for lost funds at the local bank and sets about trying to clear his name.

Robert Kerr may be a familiar face and name to those in the area, as the retired school psychologist turned bestselling author lived in Marshalltown for over 25 years and worked with the Iowa AEA at many of the surrounding school districts during his time here.

He first sprang to prominence as an author when he penned the Amazon Books chart-topping novel, “Completely Restored,” a historical mystery set in early 20th century Marshalltown, which features notable characters and events like Billy Sunday, T. Nelson Downs, and the Green Mountain train wreck.

Now with his recently released third book, “A Tidy Little Mess”, Kerr returns to some of his Nebraska roots as the tale follows Bree Madsen, a talented, determined young woman stuck in a dead-end newspaper job, who learns of a scandalous rumor about her late grandfather being blamed for lost funds at the local bank.

“She really enjoyed the idea of investigative journalism when she was in school,” Kerr explained. “So she decides she’s going to look into this and see if she can clear this up and maybe clear his name, and it’s set in a little town in Nebraska that’s not that different from the one that I grew up near.”

The story weaves mystery, romance and discovery in a small town mystery drama where Kerr says the character Bree Madsen truly shines as a plucky and shrewd protagonist.

“That’s kind of her thing, she rights wrongs,” he said. “She’s a modern day, not really a Don Quixote, but a modern day heroine, because she really does try to correct the wrongs that she comes across.”

Kerr classifies his novels as “cozy mysteries” and said his choice of writing the genre was entirely “accidental” by nature.

“I wrote three books, and then one day I realized, ‘Oh, I’ve written cozy mysteries,'” he said. “They’re not terribly in the wall, long drawn out investigations into murders or anything. They’re comfortable reads.”

It’s in these grounded, approachable narratives in which Kerr says he not only finds the most enjoyment in writing but that they also help to draw a larger and more encompassing audience for his work.

“I like to think I have good stories, and then I concentrate on telling those stories as well as I can,” he said. “I don’t think anyone would accuse me of getting bogged down in details. I don’t have a lot of patience, when I read fiction, for stories where 90 percent of a chapter will be devoted to describing the lapel buttons on the guy’s suit… I try to concentrate on the salient details of the story, and leave it to the reader’s imagination to fill in those gaps. I don’t take all that fun out of it for the reader.”

With his debut novel becoming such a hit online through Amazon Books, now with over 100,00 copies sold, Kerr says he was blown away and encouraged by the overwhelming response to his work and since then, he still struggles to come to terms with his novel’s popularity.

“That book really surprised me,” Kerr said. “That kind of made me think, ‘Well, writing things is not too bad’… I still can’t get over the fact that people in Japan, or France, or Eastern Europe, have wanted to read the story. I don’t get that, but it’s a fact. So I just tried to accept it.”

However, Kerr says the community and rapport he has now established with readers has since become a major highlight as an author.

“I’d be a liar if I didn’t say I enjoy it. Very few things are more fun,” Kerr said. “Few things are more rewarding, or fun to me, than being at a book signing, or reading, and then having people either ask questions about the stories or talk about what they enjoy in reading them.”

Fans of Kerr’s work should be on the lookout in coming years as he indicated that he hopes to turn “A Tidy Little Mess” into a recurring series.

“It’ll be a series because I enjoyed writing this character. I enjoyed the story very much,” he said. “I already have a second [in mind].”

“A Tidy Little Mess” and Kerr’s other works are available on Amazon Books at www.amazon.com/stores/author/B002VRN6RO.

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Contact Nick Baur at 641-753-6611 or nbaur@timesrepublican.com.