Whack Job: An Elliott Lisbon Mystery

At the start of Agatha-finalist Lynn's sprightly second Elliott Lisbon Mystery (after 2013's Board Stiff), Elli, a PI-in-training who's also the director of the Ballantyne Foundation on South Carolina's Sea Pine Island, witnesses a crime. A man walks into the restaurant where Elli is having lunch and shoots local insurance agent Gilbert Goodsen, an occasional donor to the foundation, then flees. Elli rushes over to the wounded Gilbert, and tries to staunch the blood flowing from his arm. Elli soon gets caught up in an investigation that also involves a swindle and the theft of a Faberge egg. Meanwhile, Elli must oversee the foundation's annual fundraiser, a Wonderland Tea Party, in which she encounters more stumbling blocks than Alice herself as she wandered through Wonderland. The stormy relationship between Gilbert and his wife, who are trying to work out a divorce settlement, complicates the case. Cozy fans will find plenty to like. (May)