MENU FOR MURDER

Murder checks in yet again for Bath hotel executive Honey Driver (Walking with Ghosts, 2009, etc.).

Along with her mother Gloria and daughter Lindsey, Honey has signed on as an extra for a movie on the life of Jane Austen. As Hotel Association liaison to the Bath police, she’s developed a special relationship with sexy DI Steve Doherty, who often lets her tag along as he investigates. It’s a relationship that promises to be helpful when the film’s star, Martyna Manderley, is stabbed in her trailer with a hat pin and Honey moves into sleuthing mode. Since Martyna was not exactly well loved, there’s a monumental list of suspects headed by her wealthy fiancé Brett Coleridge, who claims to have been in New York when she died. The witness who had the best view of her trailer is the touchy chef running the food operations. Honey keeps him sweet by praising his cooking, though she fears that the people he described entering the trailer could easily have been in disguise. (This is a movie set after all.) Much as she’d like to believe that Brett killed Martyna, something tells Honey he’s innocent, even when his alibi is broken. After a second murder, she digs even deeper into the other suspects’ backgrounds. The denouement is both dangerous and hilarious.

Goodhind’s series continues to amuse with its combination of diverse characters, ribald humor, Regency tidbits and perambulations through the glorious city of Bath.