False Conclusion

In Heley’s intriguing 14th Abbot Agency mystery (after 2019’s False Account), capable and compassionate Bea Abbot, the owner of a domestic service bureau, meets 15-year-old Evie Trescott, the boarding-school roommate of her ward, Bernice, at her London townhouse when the girls come home on holiday. Evie, who appears to be sedated, takes a medication for epilepsy, which, as Bea and Bernice discover after Evie deliberately leaves the medication’s wrapper in Bea’s bathroom, is for adults only. When Evie, who lives with her aunt and uncle, later discovers her uncle’s body after his sudden death of apparently natural causes, Bea learns that this is the third unexpected family loss for the girl since her parents died in a road accident some years earlier. Bea and Bernice resolve to protect Evie, thereby making enemies of powerful people who should have Evie’s welfare at heart, but don’t. Meanwhile, someone tries to hack into the agency’s computers, and is it a coincidence that Piers, Bea’s first husband, appears on her doorstep, intent on rekindling the flames? Heley expertly melds menace with humor. Fans of darker cozies won’t be disappointed. Agent: Juliet Burton, Juliet Burton Literary (U.K.). (July)