Meredith Sutton has been trying to open a hotel and wedding venue in the beautiful mountains of Vermont, but fate has dogged her and the wedding guests now arriving are fighting through snow. Greeting them, she sees some people from the school days she left behind at the town limits. Including, of course, the good-looking guy who never noticed her. Tom Campbell hadn't been on the guest list, and now she's stuck with her embarrassing crush for five days. Oh well, she'll be busy.

THE BEST MAN TO TRUST is oneself in this country-house murder story, as on the first night a girl is found dead with a knife in her ribs, and all the guests and staff have to suspect one another. The lights keep flickering, the phone line is dead, the snow drifts higher.... The characters have jobs including TV production, actress, real estate sales, journalist; but they get down to examining evidence and alibis and motives. And locking their doors....

As the tale progresses the claustrophobic, distrustful atmosphere is well created and past connections and deeds are examined to see who might have had a motive. Meredith has a bad marriage in her past, making her a very human protagonist. Could Tom, the intended best man at the wedding, be interested in her after all this time?

Devotees of isolated, country-house murders should pick up this more modern version, THE BEST MAN TO TRUST, but I hope next time Kerry Connor will let the characters explore the beautiful countryside as well.