POISONED TARTS

A search for a missing teen becomes a hunt for a merciless murderer.

Private detective Savannah Reid is never too busy to help her former police partner Dirk Coulter. So when a distraught mother phones 911 from the mansion of wealthy California businessman San Carmelita and Dirk catches the case, she goes along for the ride. Pam O’Neil is accusing spoiled members of the Skeleton Key Three, rich brat Tiffy Dante and her pals in vulgarity, Kiki and Bunny, of harming her daughter Daisy, a nice, normal girl who hung out on their fringe until she went missing. Andrew Dante insists that his daughter would never harm Daisy, but Savannah picks up a vibe from Kiki that leaves her with a bad feeling. Though Daisy’s car is discovered abandoned in a lonely spot, tracker dogs find no trail to the missing teen. The investigation makes little progress until Andrew Dante is found dead in a coffin, one of the props for an over-the-top Halloween party the obnoxious Tiffy is planning, with a stake in his heart. Tiffy accuses her hated stepmom of killing her unfaithful father. The search for his latest girlfriend is slow going until Savannah’s visiting gran comes up with an idea that breaks the case wide open.

Savannah (Fat Free and Fatal, 2008, etc.) deftly handles a collection of teens who could have been ripped from the headlines and solves a nasty case.