Inheritance Tracks

In Aird’s quaintly archaic 26th Sloan and Crosby mystery (after 2016’s Learning Curve), five individuals of varying ages and backgrounds gather at a solicitors’ office in Berebury, England, where they learn that they are the heirs—along with one other individual, Daniel Elland, who has proven impossible to locate—of Algernon George Culver Mayton, who generations ago invented Mayton’s Marvellous Mixture. This dubious patent medicine has earned a vast fortune, which, upon either finding the missing Elland or—after a seven-year wait—having him declared legally dead, will be divided among the remaining legatees. While the search continues for Elland, one of the five, Susan Port, dies in unusual circumstances. Det. Insp. C.D. Sloan and his bumptious colleague, Detective Constable Crosby, investigate. Why and how was Port murdered? Are the other heirs at risk? Where is Daniel Elland? This is a jolly little brainteaser, with a full complement of eccentric characters and plausible, if zany, suspects and motives. Fans of traditional puzzle mysteries will have fun. Agent: Clare Alexander, Aitken Alexander Assoc. (U.K.). (Aug.)