Money is in very short supply for Nora Blackburn and her fiancé Michael, and Gus, the new boss at the Philadelphia Inquirer, is letting reporters go at the speed of sound. Nora's job is hanging by a very loose thread but her blueblood lineage and the connections she has with the crème-de-la-crème will keep her employed at the Inquirer. Nora's baby sister Emma has moved out of the family home, with no explanation, and her sister Libby is acting like a stage mother on speed trying to get her weird twin sons into show business. Libby's oldest child, Rawlins, has a new girlfriend that is more than likely pregnant, but that is a hush-hush secret that only Nora and Mick know.

Nora refuses to put her name on the tabloid trash that Gus rewrites for the paper, but even still Noras friends know where the information is coming from. When a neighbor that is a member of the upper crust is stabbed to death with a pitch fork in a pig sty, Nora is very afraid that Rawlins is involved in some way. Keeping Gus happy by feeding him little harmless bits of information about the killing without involving Nora's nephew is stressing our heroine to the point of possible stomach ulcers and over- eating. Also, the strain between the three Blackbird sisters is tearing Nora to pieces.

LITTLE BLACK BOOK OF MURDER truly puts the fun in dysfunctional relationships, including one Mick is having with a pig that has wandered over to the Blackbird farm. The Blackbird Sisters series is quite possibly the best cozy mystery in publication -- there is never a dull moment. Nancy Martin's impeccable narrative of how the other half live along with her seamless plotlines; and, her strong, interesting, and mightily flawed characters are a treasure for her lucky readers.