Gin and Panic

The charming third cozy featuring former New York socialite and current PI Lola Woodby (after 2016’s Teetotaled) gets off to a slow start, but Chance strikes the perfect tongue-in-cheek tone for this frolic through Prohibition-era society. Eustace, Lord Sudley, hires Lola’s Discreet Retrieval Agency to fetch a mounted rhinoceros head from a palatial Connecticut residence during a weekend gathering. When the party’s host dies of a gunshot wound, Sudley rejects the verdict of suicide and asks Lola and her Swedish cook-turned-sidekick, Berta Lundgren, to undertake a murder investigation. A cache of uncut diamonds, a legendary ghost, and an illicit oyster-harvesting operation complicate a wild plot, in which the women find themselves pursued by New York gangsters, lovelorn men, and a ruthless killer. Berta’s quiet common sense offers a foil for the often hapless Lola, and subplots involving dashing private detective Ralph Oliver and Sudley should satisfy readers who enjoy romance with their mystery. Agent: Stephany Evans, FinePrint Literary Management. (Oct.)