cover image KILLING A UNICORN

KILLING A UNICORN

Marjorie Eccles, . . St. Martin's Minotaur/Dunne, $22.95 (240pp) ISBN 978-0-312-32411-7

British author Eccles (Untimely Graves ) introduces a new sleuthing duo in this outstanding cozy police procedural. Alyssa Calvert, her three grown sons—businessman Chip, architect Mark, cellist Jonathan—and assorted others all live on the family estate, Membery Place, in the Chilterns near the village of Felsborough. When Chip's girlfriend Bibi is murdered and her young son goes missing, DI Dave Crouch and Sgt. Kate Colville step in to investigate. Mark's wife, Fran, inadvertently becomes involved when she looks into Mark's strange behavior on her own. Membery, an old mansion where pictures of the long deceased Judge Calvert still hang in judgment around every corner, hides any number of dark family secrets. What Fran discovers in her own contemporary house, built of glass cubes and designed by Mark, is even more disturbing. A fast-moving plot culminates in an ending that will surprise even the most astute mystery buff. While fans may miss the author's usual police team, Det. Supt. Gil Mayo and Abigail Moon, Crouch and Colville don't disappoint. Keen insight into all her characters, primary and secondary, plus realistic settings, make this one of Eccles's best. Agent, Juliet Burton at the Juliet Burton Literary Agency. (Feb. 1)

Forecast: The unusual jacket art, with glass house in the foreground and manor house in the background, should attract casual browsers.