Best Place to Die

A devastating fire at the Nillewaug Village Assisted Living Community has repercussions both personal and professional for Lil Campbell and her best friend and now lover, Ada Strauss, in Atkins’s pedestrian second mystery set in Grenville, Conn. (after 2012’s Vultures at Twilight). The suspicious fire leaves five dead, including administrative director Delia Preston, and 600 homeless, including Ada’s mother, Rose Rimmelman. On the plus side, Lil, who writes a column for the Litchfield Sentinel, sees a chance for a major news story. The story grows quickly when the medical examiner determines that Preston was killed before the fire, and Village CEO Jim Warren is arrested for fraud. Ada and Lil take in Rose as well as Alzheimer’s patient Alice Sullivan, while Lil uncovers links to sordid secrets in Grenville’s past as well as a cleverly concocted scam. A contrived ending may leave some readers unsatisfied. Agent: Al Zuckerman, Writers House. (Jan.)