Death Comes to Santa Fe

Set in the 1920s, the uneven final entry in Allen’s Santa Fe Revival trilogy (after A Moment in Crime) again centers on Maddie Vaughn-Alwin, a painter and descendant of the New York City elite who’s fled her family’s Fifth Avenue mansion to live out west. When a wealthy, unpopular Santa Fe businessman is murdered, the list of obvious suspects is long, and the local police inspector seems more occupied with snacking on popcorn and caramel apples than pursuing the perpetrator. Maddie decides to investigate the crime herself, falling in with a colorful array of secondary characters along the way, including a famous mystery novelist, a housekeeper, and the charming Dr. David Cole. The mystery gets off to a slow start; Allen’s prose is somewhat repetitive, with multiple characters feeling like “the bee’s knees” and plenty of men and meals labeled “yummy”; and the solution depends on an unlikely clue. Still, Maddie is a winning heroine, and the period details will appeal to those enamored of 1920s speakeasies. Historical cozy fans should take a look. Agent: Gail Fortune, Talbot Fortune. (Aug.)