Murder Under Her Skin

In their second outing (following Fortune Favors the Dead), private eye Lillian Pentecost and assistant sleuth Willowjean Parker head south to investigate the stabbing death of someone from Will’s circus days, hopeful that they’ll clear her old knife-throwing mentor’s name in the process. As Watsonian chronicler to the brilliant Pentecost, Parker is the point-of-view character, and while she sees a lot, the well-plotted solution should satisfy genre fans with surprise payoffs to subtle setups. Narrator Kirsten Potter supplies the perfect voice as wryly assertive Will, for an overall engaging listen offset by one or two clownish accents nevertheless suited to the postwar showbiz setting. Her Pentecost, too, fits the character’s cerebral composure while keeping her down to earth. A spectacular series encore and affectionate, yet unromanticized, tribute to the traveling Big Top, this soft-boiled historical mystery features female investigators who provide positive representation for folks with disabilities (Pentecost has both a prosthetic eye and MS) and bisexual women (via Parker’s frank, frequently amusing inner thoughts about her love life).