Book description
After solving her first big murder case in the small town of Celosia,
North Carolina, Madeline Maclin hopes at last to be taken seriously as a
private investigator. She's opened an office in the home of her best
friend Jerry Fairweather, a man haunted by his past who enjoys running
harmless scams. Jerry doesn't feel worthy of anyone's love-bad news for
Madeline-although she thinks Jerry's sister Harriet knows more about the
accident that killed their parents than she'll say. Madeline is hired to
find Kirby Willet, an eccentric inventor who left boxes of his
belongings, including one filled with money, at Frannie Thomas house.
Meanwhile Voltage Films director, Josh Gaskins, is in town and thinks
Jerry's old house will be perfect for his horror film, “Curse of the
Mantis Man,” about Celosia's mythical beast. Is this monster actually
real? Celosia is also hopping with the Pageantoids, rabid fans from
Madeline's days as a beauty queen, who have come to Celosia to produce
more pageants. And then there's Rick Rialto, one of Jerry's shady con
artist friends. When Gaskins is murdered, Madeline uncovers several
suspects and is forced to make-and investigate-some hard bargains. At
least one of which is with Jerry. After solving her first murder case
in 2006's Case of Imagination, former North Carolina beauty queen and
budding Pl Madeline "Mac" Maclin is swamped with three
mysteries in this charming bur Chaotic second installment in Tesh s cozy
series. Macs search for missing eccentric inventor Kirby Willet becomes
ominous when she discovers that he hid a large sum of money before he
disappeared. Meanwhile, a production company comes to Madeline's small
town of Celosia, N. C., to film a horror movie, parts of which might
feature the exterior of the house she shares with her romantic interest,
Jerry Fairweather. But a death oil the set makes the thrills and chills
all too real. Finally madeline puzzles over the mysterious deaths of
Jerry's parents two decades earlier. Tesh does a good job of juggling
the various subplots, though the plethora of characters at times muddles
the action. Jane Tesh lives and writes in Mt. Airy, North Carolina. A
media specialist/librarian for grades K-6 for 30 years, she retired to
write and exercise her creative side. A rehearsal pianist and sometime
orchestra conductor for community theater, she also plays the violin,
and is a certified kick-boxing instructor.
