Skating Around the Law

Roller skates and crime don't mix, or do they? In Charbonneau's fresh, funny debut they most certainly do. When Chicago mortgage broker Rebecca Robbins returns to her hometown of Indian Falls, Ill., to sell the roller rink she's inherited, she's dismayed to learn that handyman Mack Murphy has turned up dead, his head in one of the rink's toilets. A bottle of prescription pills on the floor near Mack's body suggests suicide, but medical examiner Doc Truman suspects murder, and the race is on to catch the killer. The colorful cast of eccentrics includes Rebecca's frisky grandfather, Pop, and Lionel Franklin, a sexy veterinarian who owns an especially entertaining camel named Elwood, a retired circus performer. Though she yearns to go back to Chicago, Rebecca ultimately realizes she might have to stay longer in Indian Falls, just in case a skating sleuth is needed. Author tour. (Oct.)