cover image Death at the Day Lily Cafe

Death at the Day Lily Cafe

Wendy Sand Eckel. Minotaur, $25.99 (288p) ISBN 978-1-250-05861-4

In Eckel’s lightweight second Rosalie Hart mystery (after 2015’s Murder at Barclay Meadow), Rosalie has finally opened the organic food cafe she has always dreamed of owning in Cardigan, Md. With a minimal but enthusiastic staff, support from her friends, and a lot of creative planning on her part, the future looks bright on opening day—until the arrival of close friend Doris Bird, the owner of a nearby shoe store. The other night, the husband of Doris’s younger sister, Lori, was murdered, and the sheriff thinks Lori did it. Doris wants a reluctant Rosalie to find the real culprit. Meanwhile, Rosalie is distracted by the tension caused by her daughter Annie’s new relationship with a young man who has a questionable history and dangerous relatives, plus a search for the loot missing from a local robbery. Armchair travelers will enjoy the Eastern Shore of Chesapeake Bay setting, but others may find it to be a lot of fluff without enough meat. [em]Agent: Ken Atchity, Story Merchant. (July) [/em]