DEATH OF A RUSSIAN DOLL

What to do when you discover that your boyfriend is married and may have murdered his wife? Get ready, get set, detect.

Liz McCall dated Police Chief Ken Young until his wife, Marya, who cuts hair at a local barbershop, showed up and reclaimed him. Liz, who helps her dad, the former police chief, run a toy shop in a Buffalo suburb, has helped him solve a few murders along the way (Murder on the Toy Town Express, 2017, etc.). So when Marya is found strangled with the cord of a hair dryer, Liz goes on high alert, especially after Ken is suspended and the mayor asks her dad to take back his old job until the murder is solved. Although Liz is willing to believe that Ken’s innocent and that he took Marya back only because he felt sorry for her, she still can’t forgive him for concealing his marriage in the first place. In addition, there are two new men in her life, FBI accountant Mark Baker and wealthy playboy Ian Browning, whose family foundation she hopes will finance a charitable project her sister has cooked up, restoring old dolls for poor children. Since Marya was born in Russia, it takes a while to dig up background information about her, but the police learn that she was brought up by an older sister who worked in virtual slavery in a chicken factory. Marya couldn’t possibly have been making a profit at the prices she charged for haircuts, yet large amounts of money passed through her bank account. Liz is determined to help solve a case in which she’s a suspect herself while juggling her suddenly byzantine love life.

A down-to-earth heroine faces plenty of complications in her attempt to solve a crime that hits far too close to home.