Renewed for Murder

October 1, 2021
A present-day murder in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains is rooted in a high school feud. Taylorsford, Virginia, library director Amy Webber is basking in the warmth of her recent marriage to respected dancer and choreographer Richard Muir. Amy's research skills have helped uncover several killers, and Richard is dismayed when she has to call on them again because her Aunt Lydia's lifelong friend Zelda Shoemaker has found a dead woman in her garden. Zelda has little to say about the murder except that she didn't commit it, but their friend Chief Deputy Brad Tucker is forced to arrest her based on circumstantial evidence, including a pair of gardening gloves and the fact that the gun Zelda's late husband owned has gone missing. The dead woman is Claudia Everhart, whose high school choir tied with the local Leeland High choir in a competition half a century ago. Many choir alumni are back in town for a group celebration. Ever since dropping out of choir halfway through her senior year, Zelda's been hiding some secret about her experiences back them. Amy, who's delighted to use her research skills to track down anything unusual from that time, finds information about a schoolmate who almost died from a peanut allergy and another who was killed in a car accident. These seemingly unrelated incidents don't seem like a motive for murder, but as Amy and her friends investigate it looks more and more likely that one of them triggered someone to kill. The lovingly rendered characters continue to steal the show in the heroine's sixth case.

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October 25, 2021
Gilbert’s solid sixth Blue Ridge Library mystery (after 2020’s A Deadly Edition) finds library director Amy Webber Muir and her dancer/choreographer husband preparing for a weekend arts festival at Leeland High School in Taylorsford, Va. Among those attending are former members of the school’s chamber choir, who are gathering for a 50th reunion performance. When an unknown woman turns up shot to death in the gazebo of Zelda Shoemaker, a former choir member, Chief Deputy Brad Tucker views Zelda with suspicion, since the victim was seen visiting Zelda the day before and Zelda doesn’t want to talk about her visitor. A blackmail letter found in the victim’s pocket also points to Zelda’s culpability. Amy and her Aunt Lydia, who’s been a friend of Zelda’s since elementary school, are determined to clear her name. Tenacious Amy uses her library research skills to delve into Zelda’s past, but what she uncovers only makes her question Zelda’s innocence. Well-drawn characters make up for the somewhat diffuse plot. This isn’t the place to start for newcomers. Agent: Frances Black, Literary Counsel.