MYSTERY

False Alarm: An Abbot Agency Mystery

by Veronica Heley
Severn House. Apr. 2013. 220p. ISBN 9780727882370. $28.95. M
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Bea Abbot is not amused when her assistant Maggie's mother demands her daughter to come home and protect her. Lady Ossett initially seems unduly worried, but as Bea surveys the situation, she begins to wonder. True, a trip wire set just outside their penthouse injured Sir Lucas Ossett—but was it meant for him? A powerful man with his tentacles into everyone's business, Sir Lucas does have enemies. Bea queries other tenants about earlier petty incidents around the building and notices that the stories don't quite line up in a convincing fashion. Then the Ossett's cat is poisoned, a tenant is found dead, and even Bea is attacked. She struggles to get taken seriously, coming up with a strategy just in the nick of time.
VERDICT A closed-room drama with a fascinating set of characters makes for an intriguing whodunit. Think of the series's seventh outing (after False Report) as a big old-fashioned country-house case, Agatha Christie-like, but dressed-up smart and chic for today. [See Prepub Alert, 10/08/12.]
Reviewed by Teresa L. Jacobsen , Mar 01, 2013
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