cover image Wicked Words: A Honey Driver Mystery

Wicked Words: A Honey Driver Mystery

J.G. Goodhind, Severn, $27.95 (208p) ISBN 978-0-7278-6973-9

In British author Goodhind's gently amusing seventh procedural featuring Hannah "Honey" Driver, the somewhat addled owner of the Green River Inn in Bath (after 2010's Murder by Mudpack), the body of hospitality critic (and notorious lecher) C.A. Wright is found stuffed inside a gigantic teddy bear, a meat skewer through his neck. Who would want to kill the nasty yet influential reviewer? Since Wright's credo was "You only get a good review if you paid for it," that would apparently include nearly everyone in the business. Much of the mystery centers on the development of Memory Meadows, an ecologically friendly cemetery. A cast of idiosyncratic characters—Honey's mother, a dictatorial and meddlesome gadabout with unique ideas about staying youthful; the fanatical members of the Fans of Agatha Christie Association, who are sure Wright's murder was staged for their entertainment; and the mildly inebriated habitués of the village pub—all add much needed spice to an otherwise bland story. (Apr.)