The Missing Masterpiece: A Dorothy Martin Mystery

In Dams’s entertaining 19th mystery featuring American expatriate Dorothy Martin (after 2016’s Smile and Be a Villain), the former school teacher leaves her comfortable home in Sherebury, England, for a holiday in Normandy, where her English husband, retired chief constable Alan Nesbit, vows to join her shortly. A tumble down the steps of the abbey at Mont Saint-Michel lands Dorothy in the middle of a mystery involving a missing tourist, a person pulled from quicksand, and rumors of an undiscovered medieval manuscript that’s drawing scholars and adventure hunters to the vicinity. Dorothy won’t allow her two titanium knees and her need for naps and decent meals to slow her down. When Alan arrives on the scene, his fluent French and police contacts provide crucial information. No one dies until late in the book, but along the way readers learn a lot about such subjects as the D-Day landing at Omaha beach, the Bayeux tapestry, and the history of illuminated manuscripts. Armchair travelers will be pleased. Agent: Kimberley Cameron, Kimberley Cameron Agency. (Sept.)