SKELETON KEY

Kayla Anson, debutante of the year and only heir to the fortune of her multibillionaire venture capitalist dad, winds up dead in her BMW, where she’s discovered by Bennis Hannaford, visiting in Connecticut to interview the local nabobs about a recently acclaimed deceased artist. After Bennis dials Philadelphia posthaste to summon her lover, Gregor Demarkian (Deadly Beloved, 1997, etc.), the Armenian Poirot, to resolve Kayla’s death, he arrives in time for the murders of snooty Margaret and bedraggled, disaffected lesbian hippie Zara Anne Moss. But when Gregor calls the hotel to discuss the case with Bennis, she’s decamped for Philly and an emergency session with her doctor to deal with coughing up blood and fainting. Quiet, almost offhand sleuthing reveals country-club embezzlement, skullduggery at the Fairchild Family Cemetery, and an ungrateful recipient of Kayla’s munificence, who confesses all under Gregor’s gentle prodding. Satire with panache: There’s not a corner of well-heeled Connecticut Haddam doesn’t skewer. Smokers may consider Bennis’s health woes a cautionary tale, even though some readers may find them off-putting, given the story’s generally light and amusing tone.