In bookseller Claire Malloy's sprightly 16th outing (after 2006's The Goodbye Body
), a Renaissance fair descends on Farberville, Ark. Claire, nervously contemplating her imminent marriage to police detective Peter Rosen, finds plenty of distraction when Edward Cobbinwood, a member of the Renaissance fair group, confides that he has come to Farberville in search of his long-lost father. Fearing that her late, unlamented husband, Carlton, was Edward's father, Claire spends time with the fair's organizers, hoping to discover the truth. A house fire claims the life of a mysterious woman named Angie, and the subsequent murder of a talented artist complicates everything. Nimbly sidestepping official attempts to keep her out of the case, Claire, as always, fingers the culprit, this time in a denouement worthy of Dame Agatha herself. Though this installment isn't up to the high standard of The Goodbye Body
, Hess fans will find much to entertain them while eagerly anticipating Claire's wedded bliss in upcoming episodes. Author tour. (Apr.)
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Reviewed on: 02/26/2007
Release date: 04/01/2007
Genre: Fiction
Hardcover - 293 pages - 9780312315016
Mass Market Paperbound - 309 pages - 9780312989934
Hardcover - 505 pages - 9781597225335
Paperback - 296 pages - 9781447279303
Open Ebook - 304 pages - 9781429948739
Hardcover - 296 pages - 9781447279280