Bøger i Virginia and Felix serien

It's awful: dear old Malcolm Creed, one of Virginia Freer's favorite neighbors, has been killed in a hit-and-run. Even worse, Malcolm's wife (er...widow) was in hospital at the time, so her homecoming is going to be a misery. Aside from the expected grief, she'll need lots of help with meals and so forth, so you'd think it would be a blessing that Felix--Virginia's on-again/off-again husband--is on hand, paying one of his occasional visits. But a Felix Visitation is never an unalloyed blessing: he has what one reviewer called "a dishonest relationship with the truth," and also a positive genius for seeing conspiracy and murderous intent in what looks to the ordinary person like a tragic but garden-variety accident. Of course, he also has a remarkable knack for being right about this and for picking out the bad guys. So one shouldn't grouse about Felix too much. Not too much.

Murder and Felix have the habit of turning up--and turning up together--in Virginia Freer's life, like some macabre set of twinned bad pennies. This time around, a broken leg and the resulting need for soothing ministrations have led Felix to take up residence in Virginia's spare bedroom, giving him a front-row seat to the dramatic doings in the neighborhood.These mostly involve Virginia's friend Ann Brightwell, who has simultaneously come into a legacy and offered a home to a suddenly orphaned young cousin. The excitement only ratchets up when the cousin disappears and a ransom is demanded. Ann is prepared to sell her newly valuable goodies if it will bring her back, but Felix, cynic that he is, isn't sure that's the wisest course of action. He points out, among other things, that the cousin has a history with the police, and that a local mystery writer seems to be taking a curiously keen interest in the whereabouts of this...quite nubile young woman he's only barely met.

"Virginia Freer's elderly friend has died, the will seems to have prompted both theft and murder, and the situation is further complicated when Virginia's cad of a husband reappears"--

"A Felony & Mayhem mystery"--Title page verso.

"Virginia and Felix ferret out the links between two apparently unconnected murders, revealing some unpleasant secrets about their neighbors"--

"Ex-odd-couple Virginia and Felix agree to be witnesses at a wedding that turns into an investigation when the groom's father is murdered"--