Melanie West and her grandmother, Liza Harris, are renovating a big, old home in Sully's Landing, Oregon, to open a bed & breakfast inn, when they find a skeleton in a hidden room. It's quickly identified as Angela Morelli, wife of Vincent Morelli, the last couple to live there. Angela had vanished, believed to have deserted wheelchair-bound Vincent, and Vincent had gone to live with his son, Tony. Now that Vincent is dead, Tony had finally sold the empty house...
Melanie and Liza's renovation plans, and therefore their opening plans, are now on hold until the police release the second floor as no longer a crime scene. This wouldn't be a huge problem if this cold case didn't quickly get shoved to the side by more active cases. With potential financial ruin staring them in the face, it's no wonder Melanie and Liza decide to investigate on their own.
This is a fun, interesting book, if a little silly in places. I have some difficulty believing the police would be so indifferent to clearing and releasing a crime scene inside what his both someone's home and their business. At the same time, Melanie and Liza are logical and methodical in how they go about it, and don't actively do things straight out of the "How to Get Yourself Killed by the Killer" manual. There's also the small matter of the dog that Melanie decides to adopt. I can't say much about why she decides to adopt the dog, because spoilers, but she seems amazed by the paperwork and procedures involved--which are really startlingly minimal. It's a surprise to her when the shelter wants to see if the dog likes her, for instance, not just whether she likes the dog. Yet while shelters are more, um, relaxed, often, in their adoption procedures than rescue groups are, what surprises me is how quick and easy it was, and if there was an adoption fee involved, I missed the mention of it.
But, yes, that's the reaction of someone involved in dog rescue. Inside baseball, anyone?
They're new to the town, and they meet some interesting people along the way, who are clearly going to be regulars going forward. People like them because they are, in fact, likable, intelligent, considerate people. They try to do the right thing.
It's an enjoyable story, and I look forward to more.
I bought this audiobook.
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