Foul Play on Words: A Mystery Writer’s Mystery

Clark’s second Mystery Writer’s mystery falls short of the high standard set by its predecessor, 2018’s Fiction Can Be Murder. Charlemagne “Charlee” Russo flies from Denver to Portland, Ore., for a writers’ conference, where she’s slated to give the keynote speech. The conference has been organized by her good friend, Viv Lundquist, and the two aren’t even out of the airport before a distraught Viv reports that her 20-something daughter, Hanna, has been kidnapped. Viv delegates preparations for the conference to Charlee, while she searches for Hanna. What follows is a mash-up of cutesy panic and chaos when Charlee learns that, not only has the hotel booked a dog competition for the same weekend but the hotel chef has been fired. Meanwhile, Viv is incommunicado, leaving Charlee to pursue any suspicious characters. Sly asides and quips distract from the carefully crafted story line. Charlee operates among other characters, most of whom are undeveloped caricatures, in a reactive mode that fails to engage the reader’s sympathy. Hopefully, Clark will do better next time. Agent: Jill Marsal, Marsal Lyon Literary. (Apr.)