| Arriving at her coffeehouse for its grand opening, owner Maggy Thorsen find her partner, Patricia Harper, dead in a pool of skim milk. Her other partner, Caron Egan, is standing over Patricia. When it turns out that Patricia was electrocuted by a hot-wired espresso machine, Maggy and Caron find themselves under suspicion by the newly elected young sheriff, Jake Pavlik. Pavlik has muscled his way into the investigation much to the mid-life dismay of Maggy's friend, Gary Donovan, the town police chief.
Maggy, who really needs to keep her business in the black and herself out of jail, sets out to find out what happened. She's feeling alone in this, since Gary can't help her and Caron doesn't seem terribly interested in finding the truth. That begins to make sense when Maggy discovers that "happily married" Caron, and a lady named Patricia were having an affair with the same man. No longer able to trust Caron, Maggy recruits real estate agent Sarah Kingstown, Patricia's closest friend, to assist her. Sarah proves to be more dictator than doctor, but together the two uncover unsavory small town politics, kickbacks, missing campaign ballots and rampant infidelity before they finally discover the truth. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of story - Dry-cynical How difficult to spot villain? - Difficult, but some clues given Time/era of story: What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 80% Special suspect? - investigator him/herself Kind of investigator Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Any non-mystery subplot? descript. of violence and chases - 10 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20 % Crime Thriller Yes Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes Main Character Gender - Female Age: - 40's-50's Ethnicity/Race Main Adversary Identity: - Male Profession/status: How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters Setting Small town? Yes Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment Unusual form of death? Yes Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript |
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