The next deadly chapter

Mystery writer Samantha Washington is excited to speak at the local senior center until heckler Oscar Pembrook attacks everything she says. Sam's grandmother Nana Jo and Kai Strongbow, a member of the tribal council, handle Oscar. Feeling badly over the incident, Kai offers Sam rooms at the Four Feathers Casino and Resort. Nana Jo and her friends from Shady Acres Retirement Village decide it's the perfect place for Sam's engagement party. Sam only wants to impress her future mother-in-law, Dr. Camilia Patterson, and offers her own VIP suite to her. She doesn't expect a call from Camilia the next morning saying there's a dead man--Oscar--in her suite. When Sam and Nana Jo's group swings into action investigating the death, they learn Oscar was as obnoxious as his heckling made him appear. It's a perfect parallel storyline to Sam's historical mystery set in 1939 England when Wickfield Lodge is the scene of an engagement party and a murder. Lady Elizabeth Marsh's investigation provides Sam with just enough clues for the current case. VERDICT Fans of this long-running cozy series will find two delightful mysteries in one, contemporary and historical, in the sequel to Murder on Tour.--Lesa Holstine

A mystery writer probes the death of a cozy-mystery hater. Addressing a mostly female crowd at the Pontolomas Senior Citizens Center in southern Michigan, Samantha Washington is confronted by a hostile man who interrupts her talk about her recently publishedMurder at Wickfield Lodgewith a diatribe about why women shouldn't write mysteries. Samantha responds with a brief history of the cozy mystery, complete with an explanation of the genre's wide appeal. After the misogynist is ejected by Nana Jo, Samantha's 5-foot-10-inch grandmother, Kai Strongbow--one of the Pontolomas tribal leaders--offers Samantha a weekend stay at the tribe's Four Feathers resort as compensation. The posh Four Feathers is just the place for Sam to take her future mother-in-law, Dr. Camilia Patterson, for their first rendezvous. Unfortunately, the icy Dr. Patterson is not impressed with Samantha, although she unbends slightly when she sees the luxurious accommodations. Things go from bad to worse when a dead body turns up in Dr. Patterson's suite, and then get worse still when Samantha recognizes him as her heckler. To prove to Kai Strongbow that his generous offer of hospitality wasn't a mistake, Samantha sets out to uncover the murderer, taking breaks to work on the next installment of her World War II--era Wickfield Lodge series. Her real-life investigation and her fictional puzzle cross-pollinate, offering a novel insight into some of the processes that go into creating cozy mysteries. A contemporary cozy, a historical cozy, and a tutorial on cozies all rolled into one. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.