cover image Murder on Peachtree Street: A Sheila Travis Mystery

Murder on Peachtree Street: A Sheila Travis Mystery

Patricia Houck Sprinkle. St. Martin's Press, $17.95 (245pp) ISBN 978-0-312-05476-2

In this mediocre third mystery featuring Sheila Beaufort Travis, the amateur sleuth moves back to Atlanta to accept a job with Hosokawa International. The last thing she expects is murder, but on her first day on the job, Sheila is called in when veteran newscaster Dean Anderson, of Hosokawa's Encyclopedia Galaxia film division, is found dead in his office. The apparent suicide looks suspect after Sheila and her Aunt Mary Beaufort, a mystery novel addict, find out about Dean's upcoming wedding to an actress. With unimaginative probing, Sheila and Aunt Mary discover that Dean's former wife and children are violently opposed to his remarriage, each for different reasons. Tensions were also high in his division, where bickering and infighting had bogged down a new TV show. And Dean had just discovered the identity of a photographer who took pictures for a book that Dean claimed to have been his own work. Has someone carried resentment too far and killed Dean,Sheila wonders, as she and Aunt Mary ploddingly unravel the strands of unhappiness around Dean's life to find his killer. (Apr.)