No Nest for the Wicket

An all-too-competitive game of "eXtreme croquet" set in an obstacle-ridden cow and sheep pasture in Caerphilly, Va., leads to murder in Agatha-winner Andrews's goofy seventh Meg Langslow mystery (after 2005's Owls Well That Ends Well ). When Meg chases an errant shot into a gully, she discovers the fresh corpse of a woman with her head bashed in. The victim appears to have been done in with a croquet mallet—or was it a sledgehammer? Meg starts with a long list of suspects involved in a local campaign against developers who hope to transform the bucolic pasture area into an outlet mall. When the body is identified as Lindsay Tyler, a beautiful, manipulative former history professor with a checkered career and erstwhile romantic ties to Meg's fiancé, Michael, the connections and motives multiply, bogging down the action. Still, the author's sense of fun and a lively, charming cast will please most cozy fans. (Aug.)