Classic Mistake

June 24, 2013
Two cases preoccupy amiable Jack Colby in Myers’s engaging fourth mystery featuring the classic car expert (after 2012’s Classic in the Clouds). Jack’s spoiled, demanding ex-wife, Eva, who ran off with Mexican musician Carlos Mendez 20 years earlier and has now returned to Maidstone, Kent, needs Jack’s help. Carlos’s body has turned up on the River Medway towpath. Meanwhile, attractive Daisy Croft wants Jack to find her stolen Morris Minor, which she calls “Melody.” In amusing and confusing fashion, Daisy’s car is repeatedly found only to disappear just as often. With Eva’s arrest for Carlos’s murder, Jack has to revisit Carlos’s old band mates and a long-ago robbery in an effort to prove her innocence. Dotty archeologist Ambrose Fairbourne and Daisy’s unusual “gran,” Belinda Fever, provide enigmatic clues. A wealth of classic car lore adds to the fun. Agent: Dorothy Lumley, Dorian Literary Agency (U.K.).

July 15, 2013
A part-time car detective is dropped into yet another nasty case of murder. Jack Colby, who restores classic cars and sometimes finds stolen cars for the police, considers himself lucky that his marriage to beautiful, sexy, self-centered Eva ended long ago when she decamped with their daughter, Cara, and Mexican band leader Carlos. But when Carlos is found murdered on a towpath on the nearby River Medway and fiery Eva is in the frame, Jack investigates for Cara's sake. At the same time, he's trying to recover a stolen Morris Minor--a Moggie to the initiate--for lovely young Daisy, who was given the car by her gran, Belinda, a Thunderbird-driving beauty who definitely doesn't look like a gran. Both cases may be linked to a shooting in 1978 at the May Tree pub, where the thieves who'd stolen a valuable collection of ancient gold had a fatal falling-out. The gold vanished along with one of the gang members and the wife of another. Ten years later, Carlos formed the Charros, a popular Mexican band, then deserted it to run off with Eva. The remaining band members have hated him ever since one of their number, the son of one of the gold thieves, committed suicide. Even so, the former Charros still get together for annual reunions. Jack finds the Moggie hidden in the garage of an archaeologist with Alzheimer's who used to hang out at the May Tree and whose caregiver is not only the Charros' former singer, but was also Carlos' lover before he fled with Eva. When he's murdered, the Moggie vanishes again, and Jack must unravel the complicated relationships that conceal the real killer. For a man who prefers a peaceful life, Jack (Classic Calls the Shots, 2012, etc.) certainly gets his share of tough cases. This one will keep you guessing till the last.

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August 1, 2013

Jack has his hands full investigating two cases, one involving his ex-wife, and the other involving a stolen car. In this fourth entry from Myers (after Classic in the Clouds), Jack unearths more family history than expected.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2013
Myers revs up another entertaining whodunit featuring automobile aficionado Jack Colby. Wherever Colby's fiery ex-wife Eva goes, trouble is sure to follow. Accused of murdering her husband, Mexican band leader Carlos Mendez, Jack reluctantly races to the rescue after the volatile Evaquite capable of anything, including murdermakes vaguely menacing threats against him. As Jack attempts to solve the crime, he is caught up in another mystery, involving the delectable Daisy Croft and her missing Morris Minor, Melody. As the two cases merge into one, the key to the crime appears to be the captive car. Like the previous entries in this uniquely themed series, this dual-engine puzzle is sleekly designed to appeal to both automobile buffs and cozy fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)