Murder OLE!: A Benbow and Wingate Mystery

The cutsey chronicles of Angela Benbow and Caldonia Wingate (The Geezer Factory Murders, etc.) continue south of the border. They, along with other residents of the Southern California retirement community of Camden-sur-Mer, decide to take some cross-border excursions to Mexico. On the afternoon of the first of three planned trips arranged by travel agent Maralynn Wilson, cranky Miss Braintree dies of an apparent heart attack. Inquisitive Angela and Caledonia are only mildly suspicious after a full investigation by the Baja California police. But during the second trip, another death occurs on the beach outside their Ensenada hotel. Now it's murder, margaritas and mayhem as Angela and Caledonia pursue their own inquiries. Sawyer gets some mileage out of putting her sleuthing odd couple in a colorful locale and confronting them with Tijuana's markets and tourists traps, a gory bullfight and some mouthwatering local cuisine. But the prose is disappointingly flat, and the sprightly Angela's run-ins with the criminals are utterly predictable. (July)