Marriage counselor Lexy Campbell, newly wed to amiable ornithologist Taylor Aaronovitch, is barely awake when she hears the clumsy cop Plocky knocking on the bathroom door of the houseboat the couple calls home. Close behind is Molly Rankinson, Lexy’s friend and a sergeant with the Cuento Police Department. For readers new to this long-running series, McPherson helpfully introduces a coterie of quirky sidekicks in the opening pages. The houseboat sits behind the Last Ditch Motel, owned by Noleen and her wife, Kathi, who moonlights as a private investigator. There’s also boisterous Todd and his pediatrician husband, Roger, and a third couple, Della and Devin, blessed with children but living a hardscrabble life in the motel. And there’s the late tourist couple Bill and Billie Miller, whose murder is shrouded in mystery or, more accurately, in the confusion provided by the comic intrusion of the pack of amateur detectives. The tart first-person narration of Scottish immigrant Lexy provides much of the humor, but the supporting cast does what they can to support her wackiness. In short order, the couple’s children, twins Phil and Jilly, arrive along with Tilly the dog. A turning point comes with the discovery of the Millers’ abandoned car at the newly opened Patsy Denoni Museum of Art car park. The mystery is tangled but clever, with more offbeat characters arriving at every juncture. It all culminates with the threat of a shootout that’s avoided by the timely arrival of police cars.
English (US) · 