Walking on My Grave

June 12, 2017
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. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Literary Agency.

Clever sleuth Annie Darling and husband Max are working alongside the police when wealthy Ves Roundtree goes missing. Narrator Kate Reading has quite a cast of suspects to portray in this whodunit. Her vocal portraits mostly help listeners keep track of who's who. Roundtree is aware that in death her fortune will be circulated among a few. Reading provides introspection into the personalities of those beneficiaries at Roundtree's dinner party, which takes place after her life is threatened. Whether depicting the bank clerk who aspires to a higher station in life, the artist who is no longer able to create or his anxious wife, a mother who is financially concerned for her son, or the young couple embarking on an expensive wedding, Reading creates fully believable characters. B.J.P. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine