Bearly Departed: A Teddy Bear Mystery

Sasha Silverman, the narrator of Macy’s entertaining first novel and series launch, runs her family’s teddy bear business, the Silver Bear Shop and Factory, in Silver Hollow, Mich., an idyllic small town filled with excellent eateries and eccentric shops—and inhabited by quirky, fully developed characters and good dogs and cats. Everything is cuddly bears and cookies until Will Taylor, the company’s salesman, breezes into town and announces to the assembled employees that Alex Silverman, Sasha’s semiretired father, has agreed to close the factory and outsource their work to China. Unable to contact her father and verify Taylor’s declaration, Sasha is left to placate her staff. But her Uncle Ross, the factory’s manager, is livid and threatens Taylor. When Sasha subsequently finds Taylor lying dead on the factory floor, his mouth stuffed with white fiber, the police naturally suspect Uncle Ross and Sasha turns sleuth. The resolution of this well-plotted fair play mystery is there for those keen enough to follow the carefully laid clues. Agent: John Talbot, Talbot Fortune Agency. (June)