cover image Walking on My Grave

Walking on My Grave

Carolyn Hart. Berkley Prime Crime, $26 (256p) ISBN 978-0-451-48853-4

MWA Grand Master Hart’s 26th Death on Demand mystery (after 2016’s Don’t Go Home) exudes the quiet charm that cozy fans have come to expect from this popular series. When wealthy Ves Roundtree falls down the stairs in her Broward’s Rock, S.C., mansion, she has reason to believe that it was no accident. Without hard evidence to take to the police, she goes to bookstore owner and amateur sleuth Annie Darling for advice. Ves knows that at least six people would benefit to the tune of $3 million each if she were to die. Annie marshals her investigative team: her husband, Max; her ditzy mother-in-law Laurel Roethke; mystery author Emma Clyde; and civic volunteer Henny Brawley. They must find the would-be murderer before he or she strikes again. The stakes rise when two of the prospective heirs die in mysterious circumstances and someone takes a potshot at a third. Crime buffs will enjoy the liberal references to classic mysteries and their eccentric detectives, as well as the traditional gathering of all the suspects at the climax. [em]Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Literary Agency. (May) [/em]