Mrs. Pargeter’s Public Relations: A Mrs. Pargeter Mystery

In Brett’s sprightly eighth outing for Mrs. Pargeter (after 2015’s Mrs. Pargeter’s Principle), the shrewd but always ladylike Melita Pargeter professes to know little of what the late Mr. Lionel Pargeter did to earn his money (“He was always a great believer in the principle of ‘need to know.’ So what you didn’t need to know you didn’t know. That way you could never be made to stand up in court and talk about it”). At an auction gala in London for PhiliPussies, a charity that finds homes for feral Greek cats in Britain, she meets Rochelle Brighouse, Lionel’s sister, whose existence he never mentioned, and Rochelle’s son, Haydon, a true-crime writer. Within a few days, Mr. Pargeter’s little black book of “business” contacts goes missing, and a member of the PhiliPussies society turns up in a shallow grave in Epping Forest. These events set Mrs. Pargeter’s investigative antennae tingling. With the aid of some of her husband’s former employees, she sets off to track down a thief. Mystery fans seeking pure escapist fun will be rewarded. (Mar.)