This one had me hooked from the beginning with its nod to Agatha Christy's use of a list of characters at the beginning of the story. Toss in regular references to not just Christie, particularly "Murder on the Orient Express", Sherlock Holmes, and Miss Marple, and it was fun from the start. Val Deniston and her grandfather, Don, are attending the Maryland Mystery Fan Fest and find themselves involved in a real murder: Who killed Cynthia Sweet?
Needless to say, surrounded by mystery buffs, the theories and suspects are many. In fact, many in the crowd seem determined to believe the murder and appearance of the police, not to mention the collapse of another attendee in the bar, are all part of the show. Toss in that the hotel was the site of another unsolved mystery a year ago and it's all just too exciting for many to believe reality has intruded again.
I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Val and Grandpa Don, both of whom are smart and able to think things through. For Don, however, he is a tad distracted by the disappearance of his Nero Wolfe inspired boxed book of recipes. Is that disappearance somehow connected? Cynthia had been accused of stealing others' ideas before, so why not a genuine, valuable keepsake. And, what does a tea kettle have to do with anything? Why were some attendees going to such extremes to disguise themselves? Poison rings? Inheritances? What would drive someone to murder?
Bottom line, this one grabbed my attention from the beginning and held it until the surprising end. Thanks #NetGalley and #KensingtonBooks for inviting me to this so to speak, mystery fest gathering. Looking forward to spending more time with Val and her grandfather soon. Maybe he'll share more recipes!
No comments:
Post a Comment