A Teddy Ruzak series
After his mother dies, Teddy Ruzak who has always been an overweight man and just done what was expected of him decides to start his own business. Failing to become a policeman, he's been a security guard for years; now is the time to break out and get into detective work, the reason he was first drawn to law enforcement. Ruzak is an ironic antihero who not only doesn't know much about detecting, but also can't avoid getting suckered by his newly hired assistant (who goes on shopping sprees with his money) or the local deputy (who is too interested in the case of the gosling hit-and-run to be above anyone's suspicion except Ruzak's). The small-town Tennessee setting is both corny and cozy, but not all of the characters here are sweet: in addition to the gosling killer, there's a man with two dead wives and an arsonist. But how he puts all the pieces together is truly genius.
This was actually a good and believable read as it felt like someone who really didn't know what they were doing opening their own detective agency and somehow making it work.