Getting Off on Frank Sinatra

Edwards (Roads from the Ashes) makes an assured fiction debut. This amusing mystery stars aspiring journalist Copper Black, a contributor to a Las Vegas, Nev., newspaper, who must navigate a multitude of personal and professional hurdles. Copper juggles romantic entanglements with almost-divorced David Nussbaum and former boyfriend Daniel Garside; deals with awkward visits from her mother and her boyfriend, as well as from her father and his boyfriend; helps her priest brother, Michael, deal with protesters who believe his new homeless-services-center site was an Indian burial ground; and house-sits for architect Curtis Weaver at the old Nash house, which has a 50-year-old tortoise and a history of past murders. But her real problems begin when she accidentally discovers the body of Curtis’s wife, Marilyn, founder of Anna Roberts Parks Academy, “the most prestigious school in Las Vegas.” While Det. Michael Booth investigates and makes her feel like a suspect, Copper learns enough secrets to make deadly enemies before emerging bruised, battered, victorious, and primed for new comic adventures. (Mar.)