I got this good-condition hardcover from a local thrift shop, attracted by the unusual title. Turns out it's from a mystery series about a biracial couple - he's a white Jewish New York film critic, she's a black Connecticut state trooper, and They Solve Crimes. Not surprising, as she *is* a cop, but I was pleasantly surprised by the banter (and the many, many obscure-movie-references) and by the nice flip on the too-common cozy-mystery trope of the woman-with-quirky-small-business-who-falls-for-a-local-cop.

Here, the story kicks off with the discovery of a skeleton, neatly buried beneath a town street that's currently being re-graded. The body turns out to be that of a popular local man who was thought to have died in a boating accident thirty years before. The ensuing investigation turns up lots of figurative skeletons, mostly in the closets of influential local people, hence requiring a delicate touch...

While I did enjoy the book very much, I found the truth about the original crime and the coverup a bit of a letdown; nobody involved behaved with any sense, not then and not in recent days, and while the main characters and even some of the conspirators admitted how wrong they'd all been and how unnecessary it was, it left me a bit unsatisfied. I'll be looking for other books in the series, in hopes that the plotting will live up to the characterizations and dialogue!

I left this book, bagged against the elements, on a bench in the snowbound Chelmsford Public Garden on North St. (across from Penham park) on this blustery day. (The gardens are a lot prettier in the summertime!) Hope someone enjoys the book!

[See other recent releases in MA here.]

*** Released for the 2018 Four Elements Release Challenge. ***