Death on Nantucket

March 20, 2017
Last seen in 1998’s Death in a Cold Hard Light, police detective Meredith “Merry” Folger is trying to finalize the details of her wedding as the Fourth of July approaches, in Mathews’s intriguing fifth mystery set on Nantucket. When a body is found on the widow’s walk of the house belonging to famed retired foreign correspondent Spencer Murphy, the hordes of summer tourists make investigating the death even more difficult for Merry. The victim, discovered weeks after her death, is identified as Nora, Spencer’s estranged daughter. Was Nora’s death an accident or murder? The dysfunctional Murphy clan and their long-held grudges against each other present Merry with multiple suspects, each with a motive. Complicating the investigation is Spencer’s dementia. A second murder leads Merry’s investigation into Spenser’s background as a journalist. Has the past finally caught up with the globe-trotting journalist? Mathews takes readers on a holiday tour with an ocean view, complete with a murder mystery as twisted as the emotions that family can evoke. Agent: Raphael Sagalyn, Sagalyn Literary Agency.

April 1, 2017
A police officer's wedding plans are complicated by a death in one of Nantucket's most prominent families.Meredith Folger, who comes from a long line of Nantucket police officers, is about to marry wealthy Peter Mason, whom she's known forever. Shortly before the happy event, her father and grandfather run into famous foreign correspondent Spence Murphy at the Wharf Rat Club and realize his memory is failing when he doesn't remember that his adopted daughter, Nora, has been staying with him at the family home. When Spence's son Elliot, and his partner, Andre Henrissaint, arrive, the housekeeper tells them Nora's been there but adds that she hasn't seen her in more than a month. Soon thereafter, McTavish, Elliot's Westie, leads them to the roof walk, where they find Nora's badly decomposed body. Spence's other son, David, a Boston attorney, brings fresh problems when he arrives with Laney, the daughter who's lived with him ever since his bitter divorce from Kate, her mother. Nora seems to have died from drinking coffee laced with apricot seeds that Laney had provided in the hopes of curing her now-deceased grandmother, who had been suffering from cancer. Was Nora's death accident, suicide, or murder? A book Nora had been writing charges that Spence invented the story of imprisonment and escape from Cambodia that made him rich and famous. David, cold and bitter, wants Laney to stay on and take care of Spence until he dies and they can sell everything to settle the estate. Elliot, who's passionate about the family home, wants to keep it but can't afford to buy out David. When Spence becomes the next victim and a new will names Kate as trustee, the family implodes, leaving Meredith the tricky job of identifying which relative turned to murder. After a long hiatus, Mathews returns to Nantucket (Death in a Cold Hard Light, 1999, etc.) with this twisty tale of family relationships gone bad.

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 1, 2017

Nineteen years after the last Merry Folger mystery (1998's Death in a Cold Hard Light), Mathews returns to her Nantucket, MA-based series with a fifth adventure. Detective Folger has a new police chief watching over her shoulder as she investigates the death of a woman only discovered on the July Fourth holiday weekend when her family returns to the island. A complex mystery involving secrets, a dysfunctional family, and Folger's own insecurities.--LH

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2017
Nora, the adopted daughter of war correspondent Spencer Murphy, has been murdered, and her elderly father has disappeared. Meredith Folger, a detective on the Nantucket police force, soon realizes that this is no ordinary murder investigation: the entire Murphy family seems incapable of either remembering its own history or telling the truth about it. This fifth in the Folger series and the first since 1998's Death in a Cold Hard Light gives the resourceful cop plenty to deal withnot just the murder case (a second body soon turns up), but also the busy Fourth of July holiday, a new and antagonistic boss, and her own impending wedding. It's nice to see Folger back in action after a too-long hiatus.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)