A Hard Bargain

October 2, 2006
After solving her first murder case in 2006's Case of Imagination
, former North Carolina beauty queen and budding PI Madeline "Mac" Maclin is swamped with three mysteries in this charming but chaotic second installment in Tesh's cozy series. Mac's search for missing eccentric inventor Kirby Willet becomes ominous when she discovers that he hid a large sum of money before he disappeared. Meanwhile, a production company comes to Madeline's small town of Celosia, N.C., to film a horror movie, parts of which might feature the exterior of the house she shares with her romantic interest, Jerry Fairweather. But a death on the set makes the thrills and chills all too real. Finally, Madeline puzzles over the mysterious deaths of Jerry's parents two decades earlier. Tesh does a good job of juggling the various subplots, though the plethora of characters at times muddles the action.