Isabel Puddles investigates

Isabel Puddles, formerly a hairdresser in Gull Harbor, Mich., takes on her first case as a licensed PI in Byrne's cute if padded sequel to 2020's Meet Isabel Puddles. When Randolph "Trey" Bachmeier III, who has "the reputation of being an entitled and arrogant playboy," disappears from a Great Lakes ferry before reaching Gull Harbor, his reclusive beer heiress aunt, Abigail Bachmeier, hires Isabel to investigate. While Isabel is still searching for Trey, Abigail asks her to find yet another missing relative. What Isabel discovers suggests the possibility that "three generations of Bachmeier men had all been murdered." Some endearing characters and the appealing setting compensate in part for the many digressions, such as the chapter devoted to a jilting Abigail suffered 50 years earlier. This is a good fit for Murder She Wrote fans. (Dec.)

Now that she's solved a murder, a novice detective thinks she's ready for the big time. Isabel Puddles loves her family home, her dogs, her grown children, and her lifelong friendship with acerbic bestie Frances. Though she still works part time at her cousin's hardware store, she's given up her other side gigs to return to college and study criminology. The hot news is the disappearance of the heir to the Bachmeier beer fortune from a Lake Michigan ferry. So Isabel assumes that when she's summoned to Miss Abigail Bachmeier's estate for a meeting, it's because Abigail wants her to investigate. Gull Harbor has long been a summer residence for the wealthy, and rumors have abounded about the eccentric Abigail. Isabel finds Abigail charming but coldly uninterested in the possible death of the nephew she despised. Instead, after signing a nondisclosure agreement, Isabel is hired to find the son of Abigail's late and equally despicable brother, who fathered a child but refused to marry the mother. Abigail's own father helped support the boy until his mother cut all ties and vanished. On top of that, the volatile Frances, at first convinced that her husband is having an affair, grows even more furious when she learns that he's accepted a promotion that requires moving without even asking her. The tricky mystery leads Isabel to new friendships and the realization that detection might not be her thing after all. A mellow mystery, down-home characters, and touches of humor add up to a very pleasant read. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.