About fifteen, twenty years ago, Jude used to have dinner with Megan Georgeson and her husband Al Sinclair. Megan was a famous actor and Al was... well. He was handsy. Jude always managed to escape but she wasn't sure how Megan put up with him. Nor how his new wife, the paragon Persephone, is managing.
Now Al has rebranded himself as Burton St. Clair and has finally published a book worth noting. In fact, he's talking about his book at the Fethering library. There are a number of people who stand up to ask questions, then hang around to drink the wine. It's too bad that it starts raining at the end of the night and Al offers Jude a trip home. True to form, he makes a pass. Jude slaps him and walks home. Too bad no one sees her and that turns out to be a problem when Al/Burton is found in the parking lot the next morning, dead. As the last person to see him, Jude is immediately a suspect.
It doesn't help that Megan remembers Jude as a homewrecker and no one seems to believe that she wasn't, even Carole, Jude's usual amateur detecting partner.
I hadn't read any of the other books in this series but didn't feel like I was missing anything (at book 18 even!). I also didn't connect with either Jude or Carole. Jude was a little... well, after 17 other run-ins with a dead body you'd think she would've been smarter. And that Carole would have trusted her a bit more though the fact that she didn't blindly believe Jude was nice. The mystery was fairly clued and that helped make this a very readable story.
Three stars
This book comes out June 16th
ARC kindly provided by Black Thorn and NetGalley
Opinions are my own
