SIX FEET BELOW ZERO

Juggling a misplaced will, a missing aunt, and an unscrupulous grandma—not to mention a sick puppy and, hidden in a basement freezer, a beloved caregiver’s corpse—keeps two young orphans on the hop.

Devastating as it is to come home from school to find Great-Grammy, their guardian, dead, 12-year-old Rosie and her younger brother, Baker, have no time to nurse their grief if they want to stay out of the clutches of her daughter, “Grim” Gram Hesper, who has been campaigning to ship her octogenarian mother off to a senior condo and the children to separate boarding schools and sell the house and property to a developer. Fortunately, canny Great-Grammy made elaborate preparations to keep her expected demise a secret long enough for the children to track down both the errant will and a far-traveling favorite aunt. Unfortunately, carrying out her plan turns into a nonstop whirl of complications as the doorbell and phone never seem to stop ringing, it gets harder for Rosie to keep friendly new neighbor Karleen at arm’s length, and Grim Hesper sweeps in to show prospective buyers around. Chucking in a red herring to spice up the frantic search, a budding friendship to add warmth, and even a set of recipes, Jones dishes up a delicious denouement on the way to a resolution rich in just deserts. Karleen has brown skin; other main characters present White.

A delightful, briskly paced caper.