Death in D Minor: A Gethsemane Brown Mystery

Gordon’s charming sequel to 2016’s Murder in G Major finds sassy Virginia-born musician Gethsemane Brown still living in postcard-perfect 200-year-old Carraigfaire Cottage near Dunmullach, a village in southwestern Ireland. Hank Wayne, real estate developer and cultural philistine, is intent on buying the cottage and turning it into a garish hotel. Gethsemane’s only hope of keeping her home is by providing it with an authentic ghost, as Wayne is terrified of the supernatural. Meanwhile, Gethsemane’s brother-in-law, Jackson Applethwaite, the curator of an American textile museum, arrives for an auction. When a valuable piece of embroidery is found in Applethwaite’s coat pocket, he’s accused of its theft. Convinced that the police are doing nothing constructive, Gethsemane decides to do a bit of sleuthing, which leads her to the mansion of a patron of the arts, who’s subsequently found dead. Gethsemane races between often-failed attempts to raise a ghost and her need to clear her brother-in-law’s name, find a murderer, and thwart an international art scam. This is light entertainment at its best. (July)