Book description
Former beauty queen and fledgling private investigator, Madeline
Maclin, has married her best friend, Jerry Fairweather, and settled into
his old house in the small town of Celosia, North Carolina. Madeline
becomes involved in the mysterious death of Amelia Lever, an unpopular
teacher at Celosia Elementary School. Her cigarette break turned out to
be fatal. But Maddy isn't convinced it was a natural death. Grumpy,
uncooperative Amelia Lever was despised by the faculty, mainly for
voting against grant proposals. And then there's her latest case. Nathan
Fenton has hired Madeline to help solve a riddle left to him by his
Uncle Elijah, a man who loved to play games. The riddle says: From west
to east the river flows, from ancient times the sparrow flies. Trust
animals that live in packs, and listen where the portrait lies. Are the
teacher's death and this mysterious riddle somehow related? The
opening of Tesh's entertaining third cozy to feature PI Madeline Maclin
(after 2007's A Hard Bargain) finds Madeline, who's just opened her own
investigative office in Celosia, N. C., under a lot of stress. She has
one week both to solve a case that could mean a large inheritance for
her client and to paint a picture for a respectable gallery that's
invited her to exhibit. In addition, Madeline can't resist an offer to
guest art-teach at the local elementary school, where she's on hand for
the suspicious demise of a unanimously loathed teacher. The teacher's
death and Madeline's other case turn out to be linked by the latest
must-have collectible cards for kids. The stakes rise when her new
husband, semiretired con man Jerry Fairweather, is assaulted while
working in a local bookstore, and those same cards are the object of the
robber's desire. Amusing characters and charming village atmosphere more
than compensate for a number of plot implausibilities. 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.
