False Conclusion

March 1, 2019
Bea Abbot runs a domestic-service agency in London and dabbles in sleuthing. She takes pride in providing highly qualified staff but feels she may have met her match when Marcia Tredgold and her daughter, Charlotte, sweep imperiously into the office and demand that Bea immediately provide them with a cook, a cleaner, and a butler (Charlotte has fired the previous staff). Then Marcia insists on seeing Bea privately and confides that what she really wants is for Bea to find out who killed her cats. Bea fears she's dealing with a nutcase, but intrigued by the bizarre request, she agrees to do what she can, eventually unraveling the whole story behind the case of the cat killer. The result, however, is so strange and sad that Bea rather wishes she'd left the whole thing alone. Still, she can add one more case solved to her growing file of sleuthing successes. A good choice for fans of the British cozy, especially those with an Agatha Christie feel, combining gentle humor, an intrepid heroine, and an unusual plot with quirky twists.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

December 4, 2020
Heley's latest installment in her Bea Abbot series is the urban equivalent of a British village cozy. It's set in London but retains the inviting charm of a small-town mystery. Bea's ward, Bernice, has brought home her boarding-school roommate, Evie Trescott, whom Bernice has unkindly dubbed "the dum-dum" because of Evie's seeming lack of intelligence. Evie's parents died tragically in a car crash, so her Aunt April and Uncle Constant have taken her in. But as part of the extremely wealthy Trescott dynasty, Evie is the only thing standing between April and Constant and the massive Trescott fortune. Bea suspects that Evie is being exploited, or, even worse, that she's targeted as part of a deadly scheme to take over her inheritance. While Bea's busy keeping Evie safe and corralling the always feisty Bernice, she's also grappling with the reappearance of her charming former husband and trying to keep her domestic employment agency running smoothly. A likable heroine, who can play the dithery old lady while cracking challenging cases, combines with suspenseful twists, quirky supporting characters, and a satisfying ending to make this a delight for fans of British mysteries.

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