Puzzle Me a Murder

June 1, 2024
An Oregon librarian gets sucked into a murder case and discovers that her skills in researching give her quite a knack for it. If it's not one thing, it's another. In the run-up to her daughter Celeste's wedding, Ruby Milliner comes home to discover her husband, West Hazel city comptroller George Byrd, in a compromising position with an unidentified woman and then, while she's still venting her outrage to her old friend Alice Pepper, gets news that George has been bashed to death--maybe, the cops insinuate, by Ruby herself. Luckily, it doesn't take long for Alice--who left her own husband after he ran the restaurant he started with the family savings into the ground--to establish that there are plenty of other candidates for the role of murderer. George's quest to hunt down the low-stakes Cola Bandits, high school students Tony Preston and Jimmy Moynihan, through DNA evidence he collected through EYE-dentify, the high-tech security firm run by Jared Chase, turns out to be only the tip of a surprisingly unsavory iceberg. While Ruby was doing her best to make an honest living at Ruby's House of Wigs, George was using trace evidence EYE-dentify gathered for him at top prices billed to the city to blackmail everyone in West Hazel. Will more people get killed? Not a single one. Will the killer get off scot-free? No way. Will Celeste's wedding to Jamal get postponed? Absolutely not; cozy fans can breathe easy. Is a series likely to follow? Yes--under the branding of the Alice Pepper Lonely Hearts and Puzzle Club. Your move.

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July 22, 2024
When her good friend Ruby Milliner declares she is going to kill her husband, George, after she catches him cheating on her, library director Alice Pepper knows she is just venting. However, when George is found dead at home with his head bashed in, Ruby becomes the chief suspect, and Alice decides to clear her name. With the help of her sister Violet, Ruby, failure-to-launch granddaughter Taylor, and reluctant police-officer granddaughter Madison, Alice investigates, learning George wasn't the upstanding city employee he appeared to be. The group identifies others who may benefit from George's death, and they research and interview them to exclude them as suspects. Their investigation ultimately leads to grave danger for Alice. Complicating matters, Alice is attracted to Stone Donahue, but she is hesitant to pursue the relationship after a painful divorce. Details of running a library frame this satisfying series starter about a group of women, including those of a certain age, solving a murder. Suggest to fans of Lee Hollis' Poppy Harmon cozy mysteries.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.