The opening of Tesh’s entertaining third cozy to feature PI Madeline Maclin (after 2007’s A Hard Bargain
) finds Madeline, who’s just opened her own investigative office in Celosia, N.C., under a lot of stress. She has one week both to solve a case that could mean a large inheritance for her client and to paint a picture for a respectable gallery that’s invited her to exhibit. In addition, Madeline can’t resist an offer to guest art-teach at the local elementary school, where she’s on hand for the suspicious demise of a unanimously loathed teacher. The teacher’s death and Madeline’s other case turn out to be linked by the latest must-have collectible cards for kids. The stakes rise when her new husband, semiretired con man Jerry Fairweather, is assaulted while working in a local bookstore, and those same cards are the object of the robber’s desire. Amusing characters and charming village atmosphere more than compensate for a number of plot implausibilities. (June)
