THE COLD LIGHT OF MOURNING

A manicurist works to solve a murder.

Ever since Penny Brannigan fell in love with the peaceful Welsh market town of Llanelen on a visit from Canada 25 years ago, she’s made it her home. The small manicure shop she keeps and lives above has allowed her to indulge her artistic side, her income supplemented by sales of her paintings. Soon, Penny is drawn into a case of murder. Meg Wynne Thompson, a clever, enameled beauty engaged to the son of the local squire, is dead. Meg arrived for her manicure the morning of her wedding and then disappeared. Did she run from the altar, or was she kept away by something more sinister? After seeing a picture of the missing bride, Penny is convinced that the woman who came to her shop was a ringer, and she goes to the police with a chilling theory of where they can find Meg’s body. When her hunch proves correct, Penny and her new friend, harpist Victoria Hopkirk, set out on the killer’s trail. Although the police are focused on the bridegroom, Penny is sure the charming, well-respected young man is not guilty. At length, solid police work prodded by Penny’s intuitive leaps closes the case.

Duncan’s debut is a gentle delight sure to please fans of the classic English mystery.