It's not easy being a slick-chick PI while attired in an Easter Bunny costume, but for Grace Smith, in her madcap sixth outing from British author Evans (Sick as a Parrot
), it's a piece of (carrot) cake. In the seaside community of Seatoun (cue Brighton), Grace has a penchant for attracting cases that often bring her into contact with birds, animals and reptiles of various species. During a dodgy dry job spell, Grace dons a bunny costume to promote tourism until she's hired to investigate death threats sent to the depressed, drugged-out husband of sexy soap star Clemency Courtney—who just happens to have a pet bunny. Another sudden job finds her joining her off-and-on PI boyfriend, Dane O'Hara, in a search for long-lost Heidi Walkinshaw, whose suspected abductor, a convicted sexual predator, was killed years earlier by Dane's brother. Evans doesn't overdo the whimsy in a cute mystery that American readers should find readily accessible. (Feb.)
