The Body in the Wardrobe: A Faith Fairchild Mystery

In Agatha-winner Page’s agreeable 23rd Faith Fairchild mystery, lawyer Sophie Maxwell joins her new husband, PI Will Maxwell, whom she met in Maine in 2015’s The Body in the Birches, in Savannah, Ga., his hometown. In a scene reminiscent of Rebecca, Will reacts violently when Sophie retrieves his deceased grandmother’s dress from the attic of his family’s house. Sophie then stumbles over a body that promptly vanishes, so that everyone believes she has imagined it or has seen an apparition. Next, she’s shoved into a storage room missing an interior latch. In addition, Will’s beautiful ex-girlfriend, Laura Belvedere, seems to still be in the picture, and Sophie begins to suspect that the deaths of Will’s wealthy grandmother and a colleague are suspicious. Faith, Sophie’s sleuthing caterer friend, flies to the rescue. Though readers may wish Sophie displayed more of a backbone, they will enjoy this entry in which danger—and clues—turn up in unexpected places. Agent: Faith Hamlin, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (Apr.)