Bones of Contention

April 26, 2010
A dying man’s pending changes to his last will and testament trigger murder in Matthews’s unconvincing debut. Seeking the truth about her father’s death, Dinah Pelerin flies from the U.S. to Australia when she learns that her mother’s cancer-ridden ex-husband, Cleon, is planning to settle family affairs before ending his life by assisted suicide. Attending Cleon are his first ex-wife; his current wife; resentful Aboriginals; an alcoholic doctor; and assorted progeny, including Dinah’s artist half-brother, Lucien. An Aussie cop investigates after a poisonous snake bites Lucien, the doctor dies under mysterious circumstances, and other shady matters come to light. The failure to properly utilize the huge cast; implausible, even idiotic, actions by Dinah; and the too numerous, clumsily introduced plot elements prevent the reader from summoning much sympathy for the heroine or the novel.

April 1, 2010
Cui bono, mate?

Dinah Pelerin's mother Swan was the favorite wife of that rapscallion Cleon Dobbs. Her preferred status disgruntled not only the helpmeet who preceded her but the one who followed her as well. So when the three wives, with all their viperous offspring, are summoned to a really uncomfortable lodge in Australia's Northern Territory, to hear how Cleon, now dying of cancer, has itemized his will, the mood quickly turns ugly, particularly when a journalist's skewered body turns up and Cleon's doctor, on hand to assist him in ending his pain-filled life, is poisoned. The survivors can't help wondering if someone's missed the real target—Cleon, of course, who's infuriated everyone by changing his will umpteen times and leaving his two Winslow Homer watercolors to Dinah. But there's something a little off about those watercolors. Could they have been forged? And now here comes yet another relative to make a claim on Cleon, a long-lost illegitimate son. Hmm. Maybe he's as fake as the artwork. Next come more family bickering, more will-changing and a final murderous twist to wrap things up.

Matthews's debut provides a lively updating of that classic mystery setup, the reading of the will, rife with squabbling kinfolk, quirky Strine (Aussie slang) and a nice introduction to Dinah, who is between jobs and between lovers.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

April 1, 2010
When her wealthy American uncle announces he's going to rewrite his will and commit suicide with the aid of a rogue physician, Dinah Pelerin joins her family in a run-down lodge in Queensland, Australia, where she soon discovers everything she believed about her family is false. VERDICT In this launch of a new international cozy series, Matthews places a refreshingly original female sleuth into a maelstrom of lies and deceit.

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2010
Matthews debuts a new series starring energetic amateur sleuth Dinah Pelerin. Dinah has had a series of makeshift jobs, but her real passions are mythology and anthropology. She has just received a summons from her wealthy American uncle to witness his suicide. Dying of cancer, he has asked his entire family (several wives, assorted children, and niece Dinah) to come to a remote lodge in northern Australia. Before the suicide can take place, a murder occurs that may be tied to the bizarre death of a stranger on a nearby island, who was impaled on the back of a sea turtle. Digging into the case, Dinah discovers that the members of her family are not exactly who or what she had assumed they were all these years. On the positive side, she may be in line for an inheritance, and she has a unique opportunity to study Aboriginal Australian culture. Readers will enjoy the anthropology frame and the liberal doses of Strine (Australian slang) that appear throughout. Fans of Elizabeth Peters Vicky Bliss should try this engaging new series, which will take Dinah to various locales in search of anthropological adventure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)