Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Dread On Arrival-Claudia Bishop

Dread On Arrival


Claudia Bishop

Berkley, Apr 3 2012, $7.99

ISBN: 9780425247075



After a month away from Hemlock Falls Sarah “Quill” Quilliam-McHale and her three years old son Jack move back into the Inn at Hemlock Falls while her husband and Jack’s father travel for his counterterrorism agency to a foreign nation. The town is excited with the news that Edmund Tree, the pompous acerbic host of Your Ancestor’s Attic, is coming to film a show and marry his fiancée Rose Ellen Whitman, owner of Elegant Antiques.



T-shirted mellow Pawn-O-Rama producer Belter Barcini, whose show trails Ancestor in the ratings, also arrives in Hemlock falls. The bitter rivals agree to a cooking contest in which each will make their favorite dishes. During the cook-off, Tree drinks wine only to keel over dead. Quill knows the obnoxious Tree died from strychnine poisoning. She works around her promise to her spouse of “no more Snooping” in way that don’t break her pledge. As always Quill’s sister Meg and their staff at the inn assist her; but like the police her inquiry over several months fails to identify the killer.



The latest Hemlock Falls Mystery (see A Pinch of Poison and Murder Well-Done) is a delightful cozy filled with eccentric characters that bring plenty to the charming plot. Filled with red herrings and false leads, Quill is at her energizer bunny best as she uses her artistic eye to find clues in a case that seems to go nowhere. Fans will enjoy this fun whodunit as the polar opposite visiting TV personalities bring out small-town living.



Harriet Klausner

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