In her fourth engaging cozy (after 2001's Stabbing Stephanie), literary agent Jane Stuart delves into murder at a writers' retreat. An old friend, Ivy Benson (the mother of the murder victim in the first in the series, Missing Marlene), reappears just as Jane has agreed to help out at a writers' weekend being held at Mt. Munsee Lodge. Ivy has a new man in her life, Johnny, and she seems to want to mend her fences with Jane, but Jane has misgivings about Ivy's new heartthrob and his intentions toward her friend. Johnny's on the run from something, and his antics with one of the women at the lodge soon cause problems for everyone. When Jane discovers Ivy dead, killed by an ice pick, she figures Johnny is the likely killer—except that he's disappeared. Despite the urgings of her cop boyfriend not to get involved, Jane keeps digging into the murder and finds that there are unexpected connections to some of the students attending the retreat. What was the real motive that compelled someone to put Ivy on ice? In unearthing the final clue, Jane rather foolishly puts herself in danger. She nevertheless proves a shrewd sleuth, even without the help of her cat, Winky, who's sidelined during this adventure, giving birth to a litter of kittens (the two cats on the Christmasy jacket, however, are sure to draw ailurophiles). (Nov. 5)
