Double Dealer: A Bert and Nan Tatum Mystery

Twin authors McCafferty and Herald are up to form in another lively adventure featuring sisters Bert and Nan, namesakes of one pair of Bobbsey twins. When Bert's daughter Ellie confesses to shooting flea-market dealer Franklin Haggerty, her mother and aunt are convinced she's covering up for someone. But who? The girl seems to be enamored with Chris, another flea-market dealer, but she isn't so smitten that she would take such a foolish step, or would she? When the police, convinced they have their killer, make sure she stays in jail, Bert and Nan decide to do a little sleuthing on their own to prove Ellie's innocence. They discover that the deceased had no shortage of enemies; he apparently cheated just about everyone he could, misrepresenting his wares, under-bidding his fellow dealers and even blackmailing people unlucky enough to have left sensitive personal items in furniture he acquired. Puzzled by Chris's lack of scruples about leaving Ellie in jail, they learn that the young man feels robbed of his rightful inheritance. A chest sold to Haggerty may have contained a will entitling Chris to half his late foster parents' estate. Was Haggerty withholding the will from Chris--or did Chris's adoptive sister, who rejects his claim, shoot the man and steal the will? In their search for answers, Bert and Nan give readers plenty of thrills as well as an entertaining glimpse into the lives of identical twins. (Feb.)