Reading between the crimes

Young's beguiling sequel to 2020's On Borrowed Crime finds Lyla Moody, who works as a receptionist and PI-in-training at her uncle's detective agency, and other members of the Jane Doe Book Club in Sweet Mountain, Ga., gathering for their monthly meeting to discuss Agatha Christie's Crooked House, about a poisoning murder in which suspicion falls on the victim's much younger second wife. Not at the meeting is librarian Harper Richardson, who's instead attending a black-tie charity party with her husband, Leonard, that Lyla's parents are hosting at their house that same evening. After the meeting, Lyla stops by her parents' house, where she sees Leonard and Lyla quarrel. A short time later, Lyla discovers Leonard dead in the library. The police suspect Harper, who was Leonard's much younger second wife, of poisoning Leonard, and in other respects the case resembles the one in Crooked House. In the efforts of the Jane Does to clear Harper, Lyla learns some disturbing secrets about her own family. Flawed, multilayered characters add depth to this cozy. Readers will eagerly await the next installment. Agent: Dawn Dowdle, Blue Ridge Agency. (Sept.)

A big fan of true-crime stories is less keen on them when they involve her own family. Lyla Moody has graduated from being receptionist to assistant at her uncle's private detective agency after proving her worth in crime-solving. She and her fellow members of the Jane Doe Book Club are helping her boyfriend, Special Agent Brad Jones, solve a series of Jane Doe cold cases. Meanwhile, librarian Harper Richardson, a new friend of Lyla's, seems unhappy and nervous. She asks Lyla for tips on finding a missing aunt who turns out to be the least of her troubles when her much older husband, Leonard, is found dead at a fundraiser thrown by Lyla's perfectionist mother. Harper's household includes Leonard's children from another marriage and several other relatives all living together under the same thumb--Leonard's. When Harper's arrested for the murder, Lyla, determined to help, starts looking into the mysterious past of the Richardson family. Families keep their problems hidden from the neighbors in their small Georgia town, but there's no escape from the gossip circulating after the murder, and Lyla's devastated to learn that the pasts of her mother and her uncle, Lyla's boss, are entangled with that of the Richardsons. She perseveres despite plenty of warnings that she's become a target of the killer, who's not happy with her meddling. A page-turner filled with quirky characters and more than enough surprises to keep you guessing. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.