Dig Deep My Grave

Set in 1939, Honigford’s diverting if muddled third Viv and Charlie mystery (after 2017’s Homicide for the Holidays) takes radio actress Vivian Witchell and her beau, PI Charlie Haverman, from Chicago to Geneva Lake, Wis., to introduce Charlie to Viv’s rich relatives. The pair attend a garden party at Viv’s mother’s summer estate, where they encounter Hap Prescott, Viv’s youthful indiscretion, who flew supplies during the Spanish Civil War. Hap makes a play for Viv and otherwise tries to make Charlie jealous. After Charlie disappears, Viv goes looking for him in the estate’s grand house, where she walks into the game room and sees Charlie propping Hap up—and then Hap falls to the floor and Charlie is left holding a pair of bloody scissors. After the police arrest Charlie for Hap’s murder, he urges Viv not to miss her long-planned screen test in Hollywood. Charlie later goes on the run, and Viv returns to Geneva Lake determined to find the real killer. Honigford loads the plot with a host of contrivances, but her upper-class heroine’s busy sleuthing will keep readers turning the pages. [em]Agent: Elizabeth Trupin-Pulli, JET Literary Assoc. (Aug.) [/em]