Murder, by George

March 28, 2016
In Quigley’s lively second Veronica Walsh mystery (after 2014’s All Things Murder), architect Scott Culverson pays $10 for a vintage box at a flea market in the Adirondack town of Barton. Inside the box is a small painting of Barton’s main street by the eminent mid-20th-century painter George Bradshaw. There’s also a letter from George, dating to 1925, addressed to a lost love. A dispute immediately breaks out among various onlookers, including the seller of the box, over ownership of the valuable painting. When someone later cuts Scott’s throat with a cheese knife and the love letter disappears, spunky Veronica, retired soap opera queen, joins the investigation, despite warnings from her handsome new beau, professor Mark Burke, not to get involved. Clues pop up in the middle of such events as a bang-up Halloween Ball, a canasta party, and a mansion luncheon. Cozy fans will enjoy trying to keep up with Veronica as she seeks to identify a killer amid the many likely suspects.

March 15, 2016
A contested case of finders keepers turns deadly in upstate New York.The picturesque Adirondack village of Barton may be a far cry from Veronica Walsh's former home on the set of a recently canceled soap opera, but Veronica's enjoying a more leisurely life as a boutique owner and the companion of history professor Mark Burke. Village charm changes to rancor when Scott Culverson, a young architect who's one of Mark's former students, buys an antique letterbox that surprisingly contains a valuable miniature painting by the late local artist George Bradshaw. Is Scott entitled to keep the painting? Should it belong to Ella and Madeline Griffin, who had originally owned the box, as their grandniece Regina contends? They'd given it away without knowing about the painting and an accompanying letter that identifies it as a gift for their mother. Is it rightfully the property of the man to whom Ella and Madeline gave the box? He sold it to Scott at a flea market, but now he insists the sale included only the box and not its contents. Or should Bradshaw's rich, influential daughter, Leona Kendall, and her children get the painting? While the various parties threaten lawsuits, someone stabs Scott to death with a cheese knife and steals the painting. Ella and Madeline beg Veronica to investigate unofficially; they're worried that Regina will be the prime suspect, especially since she has no alibi. Besides, Leona is rumored to have a judge or two in her pocket, and perhaps the police as well. Veronica pitches in by blithely removing a silver watch she finds from the crime scene, shadowing a mysterious woman in black, enmeshing herself in local property politics--and ending up precariously placed when she finds out who killed Scott. As chatty and replete with hometown detail as Quigley's debut (All Things Murder, 2014). But gentle humor and an amiable lead make up for all those digressions.

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May 1, 2016

Retired soap star Veronica (All Things Murder) appreciates her new life in her hometown of Barton, NY. She keeps busy running her boutique and romancing Prof. Mark Burke. Her tranquility is disturbed when local architect Scott Culverson is stabbed to death after a dispute over a valuable painting by community artist George Bradshaw that he had purchased at a flea market. The potential killers are many, including the painter's hot-tempered daughter, Leona Bradshaw Kendall. Veronica is asked by Leona's aunts to clear her name. Despite her contentment, Veronica finds that the thrill of the case fuels her latent dismay over giving up her former life. VERDICT Ann B. Ross and Jill Churchill devotees will take pleasure in Quigley's engrossing cozy, with its quirky characters and charming small-town setting.

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