Review: charming cozy
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 9, 2011
In Washington DC as the Commerce & Market Show Center employees prepare for the always difficult Gift and Decorations trade show, office assistant Heather McNeil finds a corpse in the dumpster.  Someone bashed exhibitor Tim Bethel with a crowbar that remains imbeded in the deceased.  Heather calls the police.Police Detective Peter Gilmont investigates the homicide.  He wonders who would have had the motive and opportunity to kill the co-owner of Grantwood & Bethel; one of the firms displaying their gifts and accessories at the show.  At the same time Heather and her maybe boyfriend new employer as a Center security guard Scott Brandon make their own inquiry ignoring the objections of Gilmont, Heather's superior Janelle Addison and the exhibitors including the deceased's partner Stan Greenwood.This Market Center Murders tale is an engaging tale that contains competing solid investigations and a fabulous look deep into what goes on behind the scenes to insure a successful trade show.  Heather is an enticing protagonist who anchors the story line and the trade show as a cynical stable influence in the midst of chaos.  The vivid glimpse at the trade show environs steals the plot from the whodunit whose spins and twists readers will anticipate in this charming cozy.Harriet Klausner