Bright Hopes: A St. Rose Quilting Bee Mystery

As Mahon’s agreeable fifth cozy featuring the St. Rose Seniors Guild (after 2012’s St. Rose Goes Hawaiian) begins, a series of nightly explosions disturbs the peace of Scottsdale, Ariz., and its residents. After quilter Maggie Browne’s police officer son, Michael, is injured in the latest explosion, her fellow quilters in the guild rally to find the parties responsible, be they teenage troublemakers or, even worse, terrorists. As the blasts become even more serious, a veritable alphabet soup of law enforcement agencies intervene, but the quilters remain in the thick of the action. Maggie and her friends realize that they may be in over their heads, however, after the bombings cause a power outage, casting the neighborhood around St. Rose Catholic Church into darkness. Mahon ably balances the violence of these crimes with her likable cast of seniors, whose flair for gossip, knack for gentle questioning, and cumulative experience stand them in good stead as investigators. (Sept.)