AN OMINOUS DEATH

An angel of death may be at work in a Scottsdale nursing home, but there may be a more personal reason for murder.

Maggie Browne and her fellow members of St. Rose Quilting Group (A Phantom Death, 2000, not reviewed, etc.) visit their friend Candy Breckner in the Palo Verde Care Center, where she’s recovering from an auto accident, to find her thoroughly alarmed. Candy’s convinced an “angel of death” is stalking the home and she’s next on the list, but she’s written off as paranoid when she names three suspects. Maggie can’t help being uneasy, especially after she and her friend Louise Lombard return for another visit and discover Candy dead. The police force’s idea of investigation is to ask an awful lot of questions about Louise, who was alone trying CPR on Candy while Maggie went for help. So the quilters feel obliged to look into the matter when one of their own is the chief suspect. Local connections and gossip lead them to possibilities outside the nursing home. All of them are exactly the family members who are normally the first to be suspected. Fear not: Maggie and her friends barely drop a stitch as they work out the answer, prevent another murder and resume their quiet quilting.

Quilting fans may enjoy Mahon’s down-to-earth characters and their subdued adventures. The crafts-impaired are more likely to find a quilt to snooze under.