MURDER OBSERVED

Continuing her aunt Elizabeth Daly's Gamadge series, Boylan's second case (Working Murder) for widower Clara begins with a traffic accident that might have been intentional: Was Anna Pittman run down and killed because of the letter she lifted from Dollfuss, a handsome young Austrian who may have been plotting against her beloved ex-husband Barry? Gently assisted by her son, daughter-in-law, and her aging cousin Sadd, Clara appropriates a passport, snares a family picture, pokes into wartime dalliances, Hitler youths, Olympics companions, and another murder before the reasons behind Anna's fate become clear--and before the true identity of Barry's gorgeous young helper is revealed. Lively complications, all anchored in a well-constructed Christie plot. Generational foibles, as well as familial eccentricities, are handled with warmth and charm. Lovely proof--again--that Boylan has inherited the family writing genre.