Murder at the Blue Owl

At the urging of a friend, Fort Worth police detective Deb Ralston attends a house party given by aging Margali Bowman, a much married former film star. The friend, Fara Johnson, is Margali's daughter, and she worries that her mother is either drinking herself to death or going crazy. Tensions run high: Margali claims someone is trying to kill her; Margali's son, Jimmy Messick, appears to be on drugs; Fara's evangelist husband, Edward, seems to disapprove of everything; and Sam Lang, Margali's first and also latest husband, tries to keep things calm. Meanwhile, Deb copes with a first pregnancy at age 42 but still hasn't been able to inform her boss. When Margali is murdered, Deb gets the case. Much of the investigation turns on community property laws and questions about the deaths of Margali's two former husbands. This delightful novel is the third in Martin's engaging series (Too Sane a Murder, A Conspiracy of Strangers) about a modern woman who is not a strident feminist but takes on a nontraditional job. A single complaint: one would think a police detective might be able to find cases outside her circle of family and friends. (July)