ERASED FROM MEMORY

Sardonic Carla Day (Murder Never Forgets, 2005) again becomes a sleuth by default when her elderly father wanders into a murder puzzle.

The snappy first-person narrative kicks off with the arrest of Carla’s father, Edward, a renowned Egyptologist suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s. He’s found standing over the body of museum trustee Marcus Broussard in the Egypt Regained Museum’s Edward Day Room, which contains his most prized discoveries. Edward’s distraction angers short-fused Sheriff Munro, who whisks him off to prison. But his protégé, Rob, who became a surrogate son to Edward and a bantering near-boyfriend to Carla years ago, comes to the rescue with flashy lawyer Cherie Ghent, who drips Southern charm. A colorful group of museum VIPs, meanwhile, frantically calculate the damage to their institution. All this sound and fury proves premature. Broussard, not dead after all, walks away from the brouhaha, only to be murdered a few days later. Once more, Edward is a suspect, but at least he’s not the only one. For quite a while, O’Hehir neglects the murder in favor of Carla’s romantic dilemmas. She’s pursued by dashing academic Scott Dillard, who unfortunately resembles a past boyfriend who dumped her, but is obsessed by Rob’s apparent relationship with Cherie. Eventually, the murder of the museum’s resident sexpot, Rita, turns up the heat on the whodunit just in time.

Carla’s second caper sparkles with sharp wit and moves nicely.