Murder at Midnight

If you’ve read all of Agatha Christie, C. S. Challinor’s latest mystery will be a book that you won’t want to miss. In the style of the classic locked room mysteries, it’s full of atmosphere, characters, and clues that make a puzzling case for the sleuth (and the reader) to solve.

Rex Graves, Scottish barrister, and his fiancée, Helen D’arcy, are hosting a New Year’s Eve party at his lodge in the highlands. Thirteen guests are invited—an unlucky number? When two of the guests are murdered, everyone falls under suspicion, and suspects include a real estate agent, a paramedic, a schoolteacher, an art college student, an interior designer, and a mysterious South American beauty.

Cold Storage, Alaska

Miles McCahon has carved out a life for himself in the tiny fishing town of Cold Storage, Alaska, as a physician’s assistant. He’s the closest thing to a doctor the community has, even if they ignore his advice. Miles’ life is about to change--his brother Clive is getting out of prison after serving seven years for dealing coke.

But Clive’s former business partner wants the money that Clive squirreled away before going to prison. The local state trooper wants Clive out of his turf, and somehow along the way an ugly, earless and bad tempered dog has adopted Clive, and Clive believes the dog is speaking to him.

When Clive arrives in Cold Storage, he buys a tumbledown old bar and turns it into a saloon and church. Because of local zoning laws, there can only be as many liquor licenses as churches, so on Sundays Clive preaches to anyone who shows up at the bar.

The town is populated by a host of quirky characters, and the plot could be out of a novel by Donald Westlake or Carl Hiaasen. It’s funny, with a lot of local color; the author says he wrote it as a tribute to the old film screwball comedies. There’s another in the series, “The Big Both Ways,” that I’m looking forward to reading.

January's Books

Jewel Bay, Montana, is home to the annual Summer Food and Art Fair. Erin Murphy, a thirty-something who has returned home to help with the family business, is one of the organizers of the Grill-off competition. TV chef Gib Knox is in town to film the contest, and his self-important attitude has everyone on edge. It's a perfect setting for a murder, and author Leslie Budewitz has captured this food lover's village as if it were on a picture postcard.

But when the tv producer is the victim of a hit and run, and a local chef is discovered bludgeoned to death with a meat mallet, Erin can’t stay behind the cash register at her store. For fans of foodie mysteries like Diane Mott Davidson and Joanne Fluke.

What's the worst that could happen? by Donald Westlake
Crooked man by Tony Dunbar
Must love dogs by Claire Cook
Terror in a teapot by Morgan St. James
Sweet golden parachute by David Handler
The blood red Indian summer by David Handler
Murder at midnight by C.S. Challinor
The girl who ran off with daddy by David Handler
Men at arms by Terry Pratchett
Click to play by David Handler
The burglar who counted the spoons by Lawrence Block
Clammed up by Barbara Ross
Still Foolin' 'em by Billy Crystal
Boiled over by Barbara Ross
Crime rib by Leslie Budewitz