Double Murder

Most things happen in pairs in this lively mystery narrated by identical twin sisters Nan and Bert, named for the oldest Bobbsey Twins even though the original pair were brother and sister, and written by--who else?--identical twins. A housewife in Louisville, Ky., Bert is still licking her wounds after her husband dumped her for his secretary, while Nan, a local deejay for a promotion-happy country music station, tries to be supportive. Accosted by a stranger who says he'll call her later that afternoon for a date, Bert assumes she's been mistaken for Nan. Her sister, however, doesn't recognize the guy's description; both are shocked when he turns up on the TV news as a John Doe homicide victim. The police aren't impressed when Bert reports her conversation with the victim. Next, the sisters find Nan's side of their duplex ransacked, but nothing stolen. The following day, both get mysterious phone calls, Bert's caller asking where ""he"" is and Nan's demanding ""the money."" Thoroughly bewildered and without police protection, they realize they must find killer and motive before they are murdered, too. Bert's former husband, good-old-boy Jake, now sporting an earring and tight jeans after 19 years of conservative married life, adds comic relief to this quirky story of revenge and long-held secrets. While this is the authors' first collaboration, Barbara Taylor McCafferty writes the Haskell Blevins mysteries. (Sept.)