This engaging mystery is second in a series called Bucket List Mysteries in which our mature heroine Francine wants to cross items off the list of things to do before she kicks the bucket. Maybe not the best reason, but it leads her into unexpected situations like discovering MURDER UNDER THE COVERED BRIDGE.

TV coverage of the Covered Bridge Festival at Roseville, Parke County is barely in the can before the town's ladies are engaged in an entertaining pursuit. They want to re-enact a scene from the history of Charlotte's family, in which a young woman cosied up to her carriage driver under a bridge during bad weather. Francine and her husband Jonathan are helping the strong senior lady Charlotte and photographer Joy to create a photoshoot for a saucy calendar. All in good taste of course. Gunshots break the spell and the ducking friends see someone being chased through the autumn cornfield towards the creek and the bridge.

Comically the little party is just as concerned with protecting their reputations as with saving the wounded, unconscious man once they send for an ambulance, and there's some talk of the consequences of their previous mystery-solving. This has resulted in the good ladies being nicknamed the Skinny-Dipping Grandmas. I believe I'm going to have to read that one.

With fun festival activities and action at the gentle pace of a lady using a cane, this is a mystery based on characters, family history and friendship. Another of the group, Mary Ruth, is running a catering establishment which provides local goods to tourists and she's under pressure with her helpers delayed. Despite her love of cooking she's managed to lose weight by hiring a personal trainer for her own bucket list item. The police detective investigating the matter was previously a sheriff, and he knows everyone for miles around and for three generations. The injured man is unexpectedly a cousin of Francine's who owns some nursing homes. What was he doing out in a cornfield? The ladies get straight to investigating. Then matters turn hostile and potentially deadly.

I was surprised by how well this was written. Elizabeth Perona is the pen name of a father-daughter team, and their MURDER UNDER THE COVERED BRIDGE is an up to date winner.