Crooked Herring

At the start of Tyler’s delightful fifth Ethelred and Elsie mystery (after 2012’s Herring on the Nile), Ethelred Tressider, a midlist novelist, is skeptical of fellow crime writer Henry Holiday’s claim that Henry may have killed someone New Year’s Eve. But, loath to let a friend down even if that friend is a far more successful writer, Ethelred agrees to try to trace Henry’s rakish progress from pub to club to who-knows-where around Sussex, where they live just a few miles apart, and to find out what, if anything, happened to the man who may (or may not) have been his victim. Biscuit-munching Elsie Thirkettle, Ethelred’s irritable and bossy literary agent, arrives in Sussex to provide comfort and support. Entries from Elsie’s journal contain amusing comments on her bumbling client’s shortcomings. Some Amazon U.K. reviews of Ethelred’s books add to the fun. (July)