A SHOT OF MURDER

A D-list Florida actress investigates a murder.

Charlotte Lucky isn’t exactly the town of Gett’s favorite daughter. Too many Gettians remember the time she defaced the local water tower with a suggestive update to the town’s name. And her most memorable role during her recent stint in Hollywood—a herpes victim in an STD–drug commercial—hasn’t helped them forget, much less forgive, her youthful hijinks. When she returns to town to nurse her ailing grandfather, owner of the Lucky Whiskey Distillery, she finds few of her neighbors willing to give her the time of day. Brodie Gett, her childhood nemesis and grandson of the town’s founding family, is still around to harass her. And Roger Kerrick, her high school boyfriend, now works as her grandpa’s chief distiller. But she never gets to reconnect with her old flame, because the first cask of whiskey she tries to tap contains his mortal remains. Now her chilly reception back home poses a real threat. Brodie’s brother, Sheriff Danny Gett, arrests Granddad Jack on suspicion of Kerrick’s murder. Charlotte’s only hope of clearing him is to pry loose enough information about the night of the crime from his reluctant neighbors to unmask the real killer. After all, she reasons, “The last person to see Roger alive might very well be the same one who killed him.” So true, Nancy Drew. But it will take more than Ned Nickerson in his snappy blue roadster to save Charlotte from the perils of tracking down a coldblooded murderer.

Kazimer’s series debut establishes its place in the home-again corner of niche cozies, but its heroine will need more wit and keener perceptions to earn an encore.