The Devil's Puzzle

July 4, 2011
Near the outset of O'Donohue's satisfying fourth cozy set in the Hudson River town of Archers Rest (after 2010's The Double Cross), Oliver White, a prominent English artist, shows series heroine Nell Fitzgerald a grim discovery: a skeleton at the bottom of a hole dug in the rose garden of Nell's grandmother, Eleanor Cassidy. Oliver was planning that night to propose to Eleanor, who runs a quilting shop in Archers Rest, but as Oliver indicates to Nell, this unsettling find has left him in no mood to discuss marriage. While Nell investigates what appears to be a homicide, Mayor Larry Williams, who owns the local travel agency, seizes on the mystery of the skeleton to promote the town's upcoming Fourth of July and 350th anniversary celebration. Nell's special relationship with the Archers Rest police chief, Jesse Dewalt, and her helpful group of quilters add warmth and interest.

July 15, 2011

Archers Rest, N.Y., is planning a big anniversary celebration. Will a body found buried in a backyard attract tourists or scare them away? 

Amateur sleuth Nell Fitzgerald, of Someday Quilts, is dragooned into putting on a quilt show for the anniversary festivities by her grandmother Eleanor. But that's the least of her problems. When a body is discovered in Eleanor's backyard, Nell's boyfriend Jesse Dewalt, the Archers Rest Chief-of-Police, has to investigate. The corpse has obviously been there for a long time, but Jesse still has to count Eleanor as a suspect. Eleanor worked for Grace Roemer, a wealthy elderly lady, whose house Eleanor bought for a dollar when she died. A little investigation reveals that Grace's son Winston thought someone was taking advantage of his mother. Instead of acting on his suspicions, he seems to have gone off on a trip to South America and hasn't been seen since. So Nell must put up with annoying suggestions from the ambitious mayor and the bossy lady helping to run the celebration in addition to pressure from a young Roemer relative who obviously thinks Eleanor did the deed.

O'Donohue (A Drunkard's Path, 2009) provides a nicely assorted group of suspects to keep you guessing along with Nell.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

July 1, 2011

A skeleton in Nell's (The Double Cross) grandmother's backyard brings up talk of witchcraft and other long-buried secrets.

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