HUSH NOW, DON'T YOU CRY

A police captain and his sleuthing spouse investigate a murder while on their honeymoon in early-20th-century Newport.

Molly Murphy and Daniel Sullivan had to give up their planned honeymoon when Daniel was called upon to investigate a fatal accident due to a collapse at a subway construction project. Now powerful Alderman Brian Hannan, part owner of the construction company, has offered them the use of a cottage on his Rhode Island estate. Perhaps he has an ulterior motive, for he tells Daniel that he thought he had got something wrong. Arriving late and soaking wet on a stormy night, Molly is sure she sees the face of a child in a tower of the main house. When Hannan’s extended family arrives the next day, they’re put out by his command to visit in the unfashionable off-season. They’re surprised when Hannan fails to show up and even more surprised when his body is found at the base of a cliff. The local police are eager to write it off as an accident, but Molly and Daniel are not so sure, and an autopsy proves he died from cyanide poisoning. Though the relatives are eager to see the sleuthing couple depart, Daniel is kept in place by pneumonia. Despite her agreement with Daniel to give up investigating, Molly can’t ignore the murder, especially when she learns that Hannan’s granddaughter died in a fall in the same spot. The loving family members seem the most likely candidates for murderer, but which relative actually did the deed? The latest addition to Molly’s case files (Bless the Bride, 2011, etc.) offers a charming combination of history, mystery and romance.