A QUESTIONABLE CHARACTER begins as Tricia and Angelica Miles stop by to check out the renovation of the new headquarters for NR Associate and find the dead body of the project’s foreman, Sanjay Arya. Leaving the mystery to Police Chef Ian McDonald, the two sisters get on with their day.
Tricia and Angelica now serve as co-presidents of the Stoneham Chamber of Commerce to rebuild local merchants’ trust after the mess their predecessor left. Tricia leaves to pick up the Chamber’s new summer intern, David Price, and deliver him to his home for his stay. David meets Tricia’s staff, Pixie Poe and Mr. Everett, and convinces Pixie to take him on her estate and tag sale rounds.
When David visits Tricia’s bookstore, Haven’t Got a Clue, he mentions Tricia’s penchant for solving mysteries and asks if she plans to investigate Sanjay’s murder. After David says he wants to check it out, she reluctantly agrees to coach him. Angelica notices that Tricia is spending lots of time with David and inquires about Tricia’s motives. Although somewhat attracted to David, who is much younger, Tricia denies romantic intentions.
As Tricia and David continue their sleuthing, they develop a few “persons of interest.” First, Becca, a wealthy woman who plans to develop a tennis complex, admits that she has been sleeping with Sanjay and enjoys his company. Then, Toni (Mrs. Jim Stark) also admits she enjoys benefits with Sanjay. Finally, Candance just broke up with Sanjay after living with him for a while because his parents announced they were arranging an Indian wedding for him.
Lorna Barrett’s Booktown mysteries evolve as the author adds characters and develops new relationships. This 17th volume is a comfortable visit to Stoneham, aka Booktown, and a pleasant update on the community and its inhabitants. A QUESTIONABLE CHARACTER offers an engaging read at an enjoyable pace.
The murder of a local contractor may be the final nail in the coffin for Tricia Miles in the latest entry to Lorna Barrett's New York Times bestselling Booktown series.
It's a busy summer in Booktown. Contractor Jim Stark is in great demand: he’s overseeing a number of projects, including Angelica Miles's newly constructed building on Main Street, finishing up the new brew pub, and gutting a stone mansion off Main Street that Angelica bought to be the world headquarters for Nigela Ricita Asssociates. It’ll house office space where her marketing staff and the rest of the NR Associates clerical personnel will work.
Tricia Miles and Angelica arrive at the mansion before their workday to see how the construction is going. They find the place unlocked and Stark’s right-hand man, Sanjay Arya, dead—bludgeoned to death. The loss of the contractor’s top man threatens all the projects in the works, which would effectively ruin the expensive marketing plan that the Chamber of Commerce has been working. Is Jim a suspect? (He’d be stupid to kill the person he depends on to keep the projects going.) But Stark also thinks his wife, who was very chummy with Sanjay, might have been cheating on him with the second-in-command, making him a likely suspect.
Once again Tricia finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation, but can she find the killer before he or she has the chance to bring the hammer down?
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