Dead by Midnight

In Hart's engaging 21st Death on Demand mystery (after 2010's Laughed 'Til He Died), Annie Darling, proprietor of the Death on Demand mystery bookstore in South Carolina's Lowcountry, believes that the official conclusion of suicide of one of her employees, Pat Merridew, doesn't add up. Recently fired from her longtime position as receptionist for the law firm of Jamison, Jamison, & Brewster, Pat was taking odd, late-night excursions, and had planned an expensive cruise to Alaska that her economic situation wouldn't support. With the help of her husband, Max, Annie begins to nose around among lawyer Glen Jamison's family and associates. When Glen is shot dead, the evidence points to his sister, Elaine, but Annie and Max think that Elaine is protecting someone else and that the two deaths are connected. Expert pacing and a tense climax distinguish this intriguing variation on the locked room mystery. (Apr.)