15 Minutes of Flame

June 15, 2020
Experts of every stripe clash over the right to probe a historic murder. All Stella Wright, owner of the Wick & Flame, wants to figure out is whether John Pierre Morton's vacant mansion is a suitable location for the local Girl Scout troop's Halloween Haunts. As she checks out one of the venerable estate's outbuildings, she discovers a sign over the mantel for Cooper's Candles that would make a perfect decoration for her shop. With text-message permission from Morton, she pries the antique placard off the wall only to dislodge a skeleton stuffed behind it. A torrent of interest quickly erupts over Stella's find. Local police officer Andy Southerland wants to identify the deceased. Forensic anthropologist Dr. Robert Solder and his assistant, Leigh Paik, arrive to poke its ancient bones. Jameson Bellows, of the Nantucket Historical Association, stakes a claim to the discovery. So does library volunteer Agnes Hussey, who produces a diary that suggests that the dead woman is her Colonial ancestor Patience Hussey Cooper. Brenda Worthington, who runs Legends and Lore ghost tours, announces that she's opened a direct line of communication with the late Patience. And ghost chaser Hugh Fontbutter wants to film the whole thing for Netflix. The squabbles among the self-identified stakeholders will keep readers amused as Stella struggles to keep order--and solve not only Patience's murder but the host of present-day crimes that follow. Amiable mayhem, Nantucket style.

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