Death comes Silently [by] Carolyn Hart
New York; Berkley Prime Crime [2012]
978-0-425-24570-5; $24.95
The book opens with a series of vignettes about various inhabitants of Broward’s Rock, one of South Carolina’s Channel Islands, and the home of one of the best mystery bookstores on the East Coast, Death on Demand, run by our heroine, Annie Laurence Darling. Annie, it seems, is one of the few denizens of the Rock who doesn’t want Everett Hathaway dead. All of his family did, and many of the people with whom he did business with also did. So it is not surprising that we learn that Everett was dead. However, it seems that his death was an accident – his kayak capsized, throwing him into terribly cold waters on the 30th of December. He died of hypothermia and drowning.
Annie has asked Gretchen Burkholt to take her volunteer hours at Better Tomorrow, the Island charity shop and food bank, so that she could hostess an author brunch at her store. Gretchen calls her to tell her that she is afraid of Jeremiah, the young ex-con who is chopping wood outside. Annie blows her off, knowing that Gretchen tends to dramatize things. Jeremiah isn’t really dangerous; after all, her friend Henny is giving him a second chance, which is what Better Tomorrow is all about. When Gretchen calls again, she says she’s found a card in one of the pockets of the jacket that Everett wore on his last outing. It explains why he was out on the water – it’s scandalous, she says, because it names names. There’s also a little change and a pocket knife with it, all in a little pile on the storeroom table. She says she’s called the Hathaway house to tell them of her find.
Annie goes over to the Better Tomorrow site. Jeremiah isn’t around. She calls for Gretchen, but she isn’t around either. She goes into the storeroom to find Gretchen, dead on the floor in a pool of blood, with blood everywhere, as well as the axe Jeremiah has been using to chop the wood. Annie calls the police, who come and check everything out, then put out an APB for Jeremiah, armed and dangerous.
The next day, Annie drops by Henny’s secluded home, where, unbeknownst to either of the others, she sees Henny and Jeremiah loading Henny’s boat, and then Henny taking Jeremiah to a secluded off-island tree-covered hammock, where he will camp while the APB is on. Annie doesn’t tell Henny, when she sees her again, but Henny, Annie, Max, and the author, Emma Clyde, set out to find out what really happened when Gretchen was at the Better Tomorrow office. They know that Jeremiah was not involved, he came into the storeroom from the back shed, where he’d been repairing some things, saw the blood, the axe, which he had used earlier, and Gretchen’s dead body, and he skedaddled on his bike, knowing he’d be blamed. He heard no car and knows nothing else.
The “Faithful Five” continue to ask questions of all of the players, as well as most of the on-lookers (some of whom didn’t know they were onlookers), thus rattling a few cages. When Henny returns to her home, she gets out of her car, and someone begins to shoot at her, breaking her car window. A voice rings out, saying “I’m coming. I’m on my way.” Instead of heading towards her lighted home, she runs towards the darkened woods. The shooter gets off 5 shots, and then all is quiet. Soon the police arrive. Jeremiah, still on the hammock, hears the gunshots, and knows that Henny is the target, so he yells and thumps some logs, as if he were running to the rescue. Henny is found, and the cops go to get Jeremiah. They know that he was trying to help Henny, and it is unlikely that he was involved. He is sent home to his aunt, who is delighted he’s unharmed, and not guilty. Henny is taken to the hospital, with Annie riding with her.
Max gives the Police Chief, Billy Cameron, the notes they’ve written up on their case about who killed Everett, and the Chief thinks it makes sense, and gives him a lot to go on. One of their biggest tips is that the housekeeper at the Hathaway house is in danger. When Sgt. Harrison gets there, she discovers the housekeeper is also dead – 5 shots.
The next day the pompous Mayor is having a press conference, having suspended the Chief. Jeremiah has been taken into custody, and the local plumber has been appointed Police Chief pro tem. Anything about Everett’s murder has been shoved aside as not being relevant.
But the “Faithful Five” prevails, turning the tables on the Mayor, getting the Police Chief reinstated, the miscreant behind bars, and Jeremiah once again freed. Annie, once again, has put herself in danger, but for a greater cause.
This is the 22d in the series, and, if you’ve kept up with the series, as I have, it feels so comfortable coming home to Broward’s Rock and the people who live there. There are nice cozy moments, and there are some logic steps taken by the sleuthing crew, as well as the cops. It’s a splendid blend into a cozy police procedural. Highly recommended. ~ lss-r
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Library book.
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