Isabel Puddles Investigates

Isabel Puddles, formerly a hairdresser in Gull Harbor, Mich., takes on her first case as a licensed PI in Byrne's cute if padded sequel to 2020's Meet Isabel Puddles. When Randolph "Trey" Bachmeier III, who has "the reputation of being an entitled and arrogant playboy," disappears from a Great Lakes ferry before reaching Gull Harbor, his reclusive beer heiress aunt, Abigail Bachmeier, hires Isabel to investigate. While Isabel is still searching for Trey, Abigail asks her to find yet another missing relative. What Isabel discovers suggests the possibility that "three generations of Bachmeier men had all been murdered." Some endearing characters and the appealing setting compensate in part for the many digressions, such as the chapter devoted to a jilting Abigail suffered 50 years earlier. This is a good fit for Murder She Wrote fans. (Dec.)