CRIME FOR THE BOOKS

The Jane Doe Book Club continues to specialize in mysteries on and off the page.

Lyla Moody, who started out working as a receptionist in the office of her private detective uncle Calvin in Sweet Mountain, Georgia, has become a successful sleuth in her own right. She’s helped her boyfriend, Special Agent Brad Jones, crack a series of Jane Doe cases. But now their relationship seems to be developing some cracks of its own. The book club’s Agatha Christie–themed murder hunt at Magnolia Manor is upended when the bed-and-breakfast's owner, Elaine Morgan, is threatened by her vengeful cousin, Patricia, and police officer Rosa Landry, a club member, gets involved. When the lights come back on during their staged mystery a little later, Patricia turns out to be dead for real. Rosa, who’s been left in charge while Chief Quinn is on his honeymoon, is clearly in over her head. Brad reports seeing an officer who doesn’t exist. And Quinn’s cousin, another officer, doubts Rosa’s ability to handle the crime scene. Rosa’s suspicion of Elaine puts her at odds with her book club friends, who are taken aback when another murder is announced in the local paper. After Rosa’s blamed for arresting Elaine on scant evidence, even her friends begin to doubt her. It takes all Lyla’s prowess plus help from her friends to solve a puzzle worthy of Christie.

Plenty of red herrings play against the tensions of broken romance and endangered friendships.