Murder on the Poet's Walk

Jane Steward, manager of Storyton Hall--her ancestral home, now a book-themed resort located in western Virginia--is also guardian of a secret library on the property that's full of rare books and manuscripts. This week she is hosting a convention for poets that will culminate in a lucrative contract with a greeting-card company for the winning poet. When one of the leading contenders for the prize is found murdered, Jane investigates, with the blessing of the local sheriff, due to her past successes solving crimes and the fact that several of her staff, sworn to protect the secret library, are ex-CIA or military men. A second murder complicates matters, as does the burglary of some Walt Whitman manuscripts; but the murderer and motive are ultimately unmasked (though not before Jane is put in harm's way). The many characters, especially the multitude of secondary ones, are hard to keep straight, and Jane's official involvement in the case seems a stretch, but readers will enjoy the plot twists and the literary frame.

Storyton Hall hosts a poetry contest someone may be willing to kill to win. Jane Steward is not only the manager of Storyton, the mansion-turned--high-end book-themed resort, but also a member of the family that owns the country estate. Secretly, Storyton is also the repository for a library of extremely valuable books and artifacts that have long been guarded by a secret society whose members include Jane's boyfriend. Now a card company has brought together a number of poets competing to write short poems for a new series of greeting cards. Jane's staff has everything well in hand, but she has personal worries about her Uncle Aloysius, who seems to be losing his memory, and her Aunt Octavia, who's ignoring the problem. There are three favorites to win the competition, and when Jane discovers one of them dead in a canoe, posed to look like Tennyson's Lady of Shalott, she knows she has yet another tricky murder to handle. Luckily, plenty of friends have helped her solve other crimes, especially her butler, Mr. Butterworth, and her librarian, Mr. Sinclair. Even her twin sons pitch in, discovering hidden passages that riddle the house and provide clues. The contest's two other front-runners are certainly suspects, but when another of them is murdered and posed to look like the drowned Ophelia from Hamlet, the remaining woman seems more petrified than guilty. Someone has found a way into the secret repository and stolen several items, putting even more pressure on Jane to solve the crimes. A literary mystery with a puckish hint of Nancy Drew. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.