Desert Summer

Reading Craft's fourth and possibly final Claire Gray mystery (after 2004's Desert Spring) is like attending an enjoyable play in which you already know the ending-satisfying, but no surprises. Claire applies her detecting skills to figuring out who poisoned Felicia, the troublemaking ex-wife of D. Glenn Yeats, software tycoon founder of Desert Arts College, where Claire teaches a summer workshop on the stage version of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, the many allusions to which almost telegraph the denouement. Short on action and leisurely paced, this gracefully written tale focuses on relationships, including those Claire shares with gay friend Grant, costumer Kiki and Grant's cop brother, Larry, the lead investigator and Claire's new love.