This Old Murder

Against her better judgment, Josie Pigeon (last seen in Deck the Halls with Murder) single mom and owner of Island Contracting, agrees to allow her all-woman crew to be filmed by a PBS remodeling series, only to find that the show's beautiful host, Courtney Castle, is her childhood nemesis. Ever protective of her past, Josie tries to hide her connection to Courtney, but when the popular host goes missing and is presumed dead, the small island town's citizens are soon whispering that Josie had something to do with it. Josie turns to her boyfriend, former lawyer Sam Richardson, for advice on how to clear her name--and to protect the members of her crew from unwanted scrutiny. Josie is an expert carpenter, and loveable and entertaining to boot, but she's no Nancy Drew: she jumps to conclusions and fails to ask the obvious questions necessary to solve the mystery. Somehow, though, everything comes together in her mind, and she single-handedly divines the killer's identity. Wolzien has an annoying habit of not telling the reader what Josie knows until after the fact, which detracts from what little suspense there is. The insight into Josie's secret past, however, will surely delight the series' fans, and a visitor from Wolzien's Susan Henshaw series is a clever tie-in. (July)