cover image The Herring in the Library

The Herring in the Library

L.C. Tyler. Felony & Mayhem (www.felonyandmayhem.com), $14.95 trade paper (240p) ISBN 978-1-934609-76-7

Fans of the late James Anderson (The Affair of the 39 Cufflinks) will enjoy Edgar-finalist Tyler's third comic cozy set in West Sussex and featuring the eccentric duo of Ethelred Tressider, a third-rate mystery writer, and his literary agent, Elsie Thirkettle (after 2010's Ten Little Herrings). Some weeks after Ethelred bumps into university colleague Rob "Shagger" Muntham, now a knight, Shagger invites Ethelred and Elsie to a dinner party at Muntham Court, where Ethelred must fend off the amorous advances of his host's much younger wife. The writer faces a greater challenge after Shagger's strangled corpse is discovered in a locked room. Once again, Ethelred and Elsie turn amateur sleuths, probing the motives of their fellow party guests as well as the means by which the killer pulled off an "impossible" crime. Tyler has a nice light touch, even if the solution is less intricate than Anderson's. (June)