The Snow White Christmas Cookie

August 6, 2012
A series of blizzards and a crime wave disturb the blue-blooded residents of Dorset, Conn., in Handler’s winning ninth mystery featuring odd couple state trooper Desiree Mitry and film critic Mitch Berger (after 2011’s The Blood Red Indian Summer). Somebody is stealing mail in Dorset’s picturesque historic district, with prescription drugs being the main target. At the center of the ensuing investigation is Josie Cantro, a life coach who gives new meaning to the term “hands on” therapy and who now has two dead clients, both apparent suicides. State police, postal inspectors, the FBI, and DEA become involved and create a rancorous and inept task force, prompting Mitry and Berger to combine their formidable talents to try to ferret out a truly malevolent killer. The town’s quirky and charming characters as well as Berger’s sage comments on vintage movies more than compensate for the convoluted plot. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary.

September 1, 2012
Neither rain, nor sleet, nor dark of night can keep postmen from their appointed rounds. But how about murder? The tony Connecticut enclave of Dorset has been pummeled by snow, with blizzard number three still on the way. Although the drifts make the village look Christmas-card perfect, merchants are despondent, and stores and streets are empty except for a shoplifter of pricey Ugg boots and a thief who's taking the Christmas tips--cash and cookie treats meant for the stalwart postal carriers--from residential mailboxes. And now it seems that mail-order drug prescriptions may be missing too. Is a branch of the Castagno crime family to blame? Several competing jurisdictions feel a need to weigh in on the question, seriously complicating things for resident state trooper Des Mitry, who also must sidestep the amateur sleuthing of her interracial lover, movie critic Mitch Berger. Problems escalate when Josie the life coach's husband, Bryce, perennial black sheep of the Peck family, OD's and leaves a suicide note, and part-time mail carrier Hank, who is married to Paulette the postmistress and serves as a grudging mentor to her ne'er-do-well son, Casey, dies after affixing a hose to his car's tailpipe. Another suicide? Not likely, says Des, who ties Josie to both the deceased but makes no further headway until she finds out where Mitch disappeared when he was supposed to be driving a retired postmaster home. Happily, Des is up to the task, locating Mitch before he succumbs to frostbite and identifying the brains behind Hank's demise as well as the mailbox heists. Fans of Des and Mitch (The Blood Red Indian Summer, 2011, etc.) will giggle as Mitch decorates his Hanukkah bush with her teeny weeny yellow bikini. Others may think it's all bah, humbug.

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September 15, 2012
Connecticut trooper Des Mitry becomes involved when mail and other items are being stolen from curbside boxes, and the local postmaster, Paulette Zander, is reluctant to report the matter to postal inspectors, fearing their small-town customs will be misunderstood. Des agrees to investigate if Paulette reports the crimes, and she soon learns that in addition to holiday packages and cash, prescription medications are also disappearing from the mailboxes. Then troubled Bryce Peck commits suicide. When a second suspicious-looking suicide occurs, Des begins to wonder whether all the cases are connected, and it soon turns out there may be a link to organized crime. Assisted by a task force including officers from the Connecticut State Police, the FBI, as well as her film-critic boyfriend, Mitch Berger, Des solves the cases but not before Mitch is in terrible danger. Police procedure frames this complex tale set in small-town Dorset, Connecticut. An appealing mix of procedural and cozy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)