NO REST FOR THE WICKED

The murder of a con artist shakes things up in Juniper, Oreg.

Jane Serrano, founder of the Murder of the Month Book Club, has already solved one murder (Murder of the Month, 2005). Now she must try again to keep a friend from going to jail. So many people in town have been taken by con artists that you’d think there’d be a whole slew of suspects when one of the scammers is killed. But the inept local lawman finds his No. 1 suspect in Jane’s friend Alix. It’s true enough that much-married Alix had bona fide reasons to dislike the victim, who just happened to be her first husband. But her particulars don’t exactly add up to a criminal background: She’s the owner of the Wedding Belle Bridal Shop, where Jane’s daughter Bianca and her dog Wendell work. (Wendell hires out as a ring bearer and is a big hit if Bianca can keep him away from the canapés.) Naturally, Jane is egged on to investigate by members of the book club, especially Minnie and Velda, who yearn to be detectives. Balancing her job at the bookstore, her romance with Nick, a lawyer who can be counted on to help Alix, and the time she spends investigating keeps Jane constantly on the go until the real murderer almost puts paid to her detective career.

Main’s sophomore outing features some amusing characters, but Jane is still a clueless sleuth.