Great expectations have been fulfilled! The second book in Pall's Nine Muses series, this one inspired by Erato, the muse of love poetry, and again starring New York romance writer Juliet Bodine, is sure to please fans of Corpse de Ballet
(2001). Ada Case Caffrey, a spry octogenarian who enjoys reading her own erotic verse at poetry slams, shows Juliet some recently discovered manuscript pages from the memoirs of Regency London's most infamous courtesan, Harriette Wilson. The sheets contain a hitherto unknown couplet attributed to Byron. Juliet refers Ada to Dennis Daignault, a rare books dealer whom she has been dating. But Ada never returns from her meeting with Dennis, and Juliet files a missing persons report. When Ada turns up strangled and stuffed under a car on Riverside Drive, Juliet finds herself a likely suspect in a homicide investigation. Despite the erotic theme, nothing here would make a maiden aunt blush. Pitch-perfect dialogue furthers the wonderfully intricate plot. Juliet's recollections of her first conversation with Ada, and of Ada's verses, lead to the dramatic denouement to a fully satisfying mystery. (Apr. 7)
