Murder runs in the family

Edgar winner Berry (the Eleanor Wilde series) delivers a sprightly whodunit centered on an almost-licensed private detective. For the past three years, 31-year-old Amber Winslow has been learning the ropes at her boyfriend's detective agency. When he refers to her as his secretary, however, she realizes he'll never give her the recognition she deserves. She packs her things and sets off for the luxurious Seven Ponds Retirement Community in Draycott, Ariz., where her grandmother, Jade McCallan, lives. Though Amber and Jade haven't spoken in years, the older woman's octogenarian friends immediately welcome the budding PI. The day after Amber arrives, George Vincent, one of the facility's wealthiest residents, is found dead in the on-premise recording studio that Jade and her friends use to produce their true crime podcast, Death Comes Calling. After Jade is arrested for the murder, Amber steps up to clear her name, and to track down George's missing tortoise and diamond ring. Colorful characters, snappy dialogue, and plausible plotting make this cozy sing. It's a winner. Agent: Courtney Miller-Callihan, Handspun Literary. (Apr.)

A would-be private eye with relationship issues discovers you're never too young to thrive in a retirement community. Out of love, out of money, and pretty much out of luck, Amber Winslow arrives at Arizona's Seven Ponds Retirement Community hoping against hope that her grandmother--whom she's never met--isn't the heartless bitch her mother makes her out to be. Now that she's left her detective boyfriend, Bones, in Seattle after discovering that he never intends to file the paperwork that would allow her to earn her private investigator's license, Amber can't face the prospect of going home to her hyperjudgmental parents having failed at yet another career. Her grandma, Judith Webb, turns out to be a true-crime podcaster better known as Jade McCallan, whom Amber has been following for years on social media. She welcomes Amber with open arms, and soon the two are sipping margaritas by the pool together in their bikinis. The death of George Vincent, a fellow podcaster known as the Admiral, and the search for his missing tortoise bring out the detective in Amber, and as the police grow suspicious of Jade, she becomes her grandmother's protector. But she still can't quite believe the affection Jade shows her is all it seems. Despite Berry's breezy tone and drop-dead-funny japes at Seven Ponds and its eccentric residents and staff, she tells a heartrending tale of how complicated families can be. In a world where nobody has a real name but everyone has a story, it takes wit and perception to suss out all the community's secrets. Fortunately, Amber has plenty of both. A knockout series debut from a veteran author with street cred in both mystery and romance. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.