A FEW DROPS OF BITTERS is the twenty-sixth book in G. A. McKevett’s “Savannah Reid” cozy mystery series. Personal relationships make this a somewhat complicated case for PI Savannah Reid and her Moonlight Magnolia Detective Agency. Nobody is particularly sad at the untimely passing of the handsome yet odious Dr. Stephen Erling. The complications come because the reader, and some of the main characters, don’t want anybody too likable to swing for the murder. In this case, the murdered man was married to the caring and totally delightful veterinarian Dr. Carolyn Erling. Savannah’s cute and precocious foster son some a lot of time helping Dr. Carolyn and he’s gotten attached. Hence the dilemma.

Since the murdered man in A FEW DROPS OF BITTERS was generally terrible, there is no shortage of possible suspects. The difficult part becomes narrowing down the field of people Stephen has burned to find one person who killed him rather than be content with hating him from afar. I admit that I much prefer murder mysteries with awful victims, rather than ones whose death seems like an epic tragedy. Before she and her investigative crew become officially involved on the case, Savannah tags along with her cop hubby and starts hunting down clues and motives without being paid. As a longtime mystery reader, I can often anticipate which direction a story is headed, but not so with this book. The twists and turns in A FEW DROPS OF BITTERS seem like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock film. While nobody deserves to be murdered, in A FEW DROPS OF BITTERS, the victim’s character and life choices do play a part in his ultimate destruction. Unlike with some cozy mysteries, that only have the main investigator or amateur sleuth, this series has a group of family and friends who work well together with individual skills they each bring to an investigation. A FEW DROPS OF BITTERS is no exception. The multiple members of the Moonlight Magnolia Detective Agency add a different perspective on the investigation that is refreshing in a mystery.

A FEW DROPS OF BITTERS is a classic whodunit with a wide array of suspects, and an equally wide array of clever and caring sleuths to solve the crime. G. A. McKevett balances the grim realities of murder with the lighter moments with family and friends. I look forward to G. A. McKevett’s next “Savannah Reid” mystery.