NEW LEASE ON DEATH

A couple’s romantic, relaxing beach weekend goes very much awry.

Jolie Gentil has a pleasant life in Ocean Alley with her husband, Scoobie, twin toddlers, successful career as a real estate appraiser, and a warm community of friends and family. The past 15 months, however, she’s been nagged and irritated by Buck Brock, an ambitious, greedy property developer and landlord. Meanwhile, after Eleanor Fielding and her husband have a horrible stay at one of Buck’s short-term rentals, at the behest of the Landlord Tenant Commission, he gives them a free weekend stay with complimentary cheese, crackers, and chocolates. At Java Jolt, the local cafe, Jolie is happy to run into Eleanor, whom she knows, but is shocked when she collapses. Eleanor had mentioned feeling queasy after eating some chocolate, and people assumed she’d be fine after a quick run to the hospital. But Eleanor may not recover. In other news, Josh, a man with a complicated past, shows up in town. Jolie had taken pity on him and helped him get a job with Brock. Is he somehow involved in the town’s recent nefarious development? When the hated landlord mysteriously dies, the case gets even more puzzling. Orr’s latest is a welcome addition to the Jolie Gentil Cozy Mysteries series, developing the narrative arcs for established characters while seamlessly introducing new ones. The large cast, however, will make it difficult for new readers to join the series at this point; it’s better to start with the first book, Appraisal for Murder (2011). Orr’s plain prose rarely calls attention to itself (“I took my coffee to a two-person table near the window and glanced up and down the boardwalk. The day was overcast, so even the bright colors of boardwalk businesses didn’t lighten my nervousness”), and the friendly, small-town environment, with its local coffee shop and brightly colored boardwalk, helps lighten the mood between murders.

An engaging mystery and a fun return to familiar players.