cover image Ties That Bind

Ties That Bind

Barbara Nickolae. Berkley Publishing Group, $4.99 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-425-13573-0

In her second mystery, Nickolae again gives readers the kind of brisk entertainment she delivered in Finders Keepers . Seattle native Tara Nyborg has been seeking a long-lost uncle in California. While visiting a mission there, she hears shrill screams from another tourist: the corpse of a woman, Jessie Bouchard, has been found in a chest. Coincidentally, the murder leads Tara to her uncle, Lieutenant Matthew Nyborg, who is supervising Detective Peter Castle on the case. Peter is as delighted with meeting Tara as Matt is to find his niece. However, Tara also likes Derek Bouchard, the murder victim's husband; she is disturbed when Peter turns up enough information on the Bouchards' troubled marriage to pin the murder on him, despite an alibi provided by eccentric artist Pudget Vandermeer. When Pudget is murdered, only Tara believes her death is related to the Bouchard case. Readers who dive into this lively tale may not want to resurface until they learn how Tara's vacation is turns adventurous with some amateur sleuthing, a hint of romance and, before it is all over, a close brush with death. (Jan.)