Dead Men Don't Dance

Divorcee Charlie Plato, part owner of CHAPS, a western-themed bar in Northern California, is up to her bandanna in another murder investigation after her initial foray in Dying to Sing. When CHAPS co-owner and former TV star Zack Hunter, currently running for a seat on the local city council, finds the dead body of a political rival in his new car's trunk, the investigating officer is sure he's the culprit. Charlie, Zack's campaign manager, vows to prove his innocence. It doesn't help, however, when she learns that her partner has been having an affair with the dead man's wife and that the murdered candidate had been collecting information about Zack's murky past. While Zack refuses to tell Charlie what he's hiding, she pursues all hints, finally finding out not only that Zack had been in psychiatric treatment for childhood trauma but also that, as a young man, he witnessed a killing. Charlie's sleuthing puts her in danger, and it's up to Zack, in a real-life reprise of his TV role, to rescue her. In Charlie, Chittenden has created an entertaining, if not particularly compelling sleuth, one who belongs to the school of self-consciously perky mystery narrators. (July)