The Body in the Casket and Other Progress in Books

I'm halfway through the fun, witty, and oh so clever mystery, The Body in the Casket by Katherine Hall Page. It's the latest novel in the Faith Fairchild mystery series, published in early December 2017. I have read and admired others in the series, most recently The Body in the Snowdrift and The Body in the Sleigh. Our sleuth now has two older teenagers at home to add zest to her life and a thoroughly modern minister husband. Faith is the manager and chef suprima of her own catering business, Have Faith.  This mystery takes place during January, when her family and her business is ensconced in their suburban Boston enclave.  (Summers and vacations take them to an island in Maine, where a number of the mysteries take place.)

The premise; A former, successful Broadway producer wants Faith to cater a weekend birthday celebration for him. All of the guests were once (very strangely) involved in his last theatrical production, which (mysteriously) flopped, ending the productive careers of the birthday boy and a number of his guests. Much to her surprise, Faith has been hired primarily for her sleuthing prowess, and second for her catering skills. According to the former producer, one guest is intent on murdering him. Prior to the weekend, a top-of-the-line cushy coffin has been sent to the producer's address.

Perhaps needless to say, I'm luxuriating in the change of pace since my last read. The only problem is that this one has only about 225 pages. Sigh.

Other Book Updates: I'm still reading Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, which I've described in a previous post. Every page fascinates! Extremely worthwhile.

And any day now I have a Peter May mystery that will come in for a landing on my Nook, via SimplyE at the New York Public Library. This one is Runaway, which is May's latest, a 2017 publication. Can't wait for that.