Vampires, Bones and Treacle Scones (Liss MacCrimmon Mystery)
Liss MacCrimmon Ruskin, proprietor of the Moosetookalook Scottish Emporium in small-town Moosetookalook, Maine, is in charge of planning the town’s All Hallows Festival. She and her husband determine that the Chadwick mansion, rumored to contain gangster Blackie O’Hare’s hidden fortune, will be the perfect setting for the haunted house, so she and her committee begin the transformation. As they work on the house, items disappear and reappear, and then Liss finds her cousin Ned’s bloody body on a couch. There is also evidence that someone is digging for treasure in the basement. When the police arrest Hilary, Ned’s former girlfriend, Liss investigates at her aunt Margaret’s request, while Margaret takes in Hilary’s 12-year-old son, Boxer. Liss ultimately solves Ned’s murder and identifies the treasure hunter and prankster, but not before she almost loses her own life tying all the loose ends together. Small-town life, a sympathetic main character, and well-developed secondary characters, all framed by preparations for Halloween, compensate for the rather easily identifiable killer. --Sue OBrien