Last Call

Maggie Lewis, the grumpy narrator of Matter’s lively debut and series launch, is barely scraping by, cleaning houses and tending bar at the VFW club in the small town of North DeSoto, Fla. A widow, she remains upset that her husband’s murder is unsolved after two years. She has even more cause to be angry when someone tries to frame her for the stabbing murder of Korean War vet Jack Hoffman, an especially unpleasant patron of the VFW bar whose body was found early one morning in his truck in the VFW parking lot, covered in blood. Maggie asks former cop Michael Bradley, a would-be-PI who rents half of her Victorian duplex, for help in solving the case. Along the way, she’s forced to reassess the people she thought she knew, including the dead man. That she also has to reevaluate herself and her capabilities adds depth to her character. Matter sprinkles in lots of clues, some of which appear to be laying the ground for Maggie’s next outing. Curious readers will look forward to her further adventures. [em]Agent: Jill Marsal, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. (July) [/em]