A Cast of Killers (Hubbert & Liul Cozy Mystery Book 2)

Description

Quirky investigator Theodore Hubbert—T.S. for short—is awakened out of his regular afternoon revelry (watching his favorite soap opera) by a phone call from none other than his Aunt Lil, whose penchant for interrupting . . . well, really anything T.S. is interested in, is uncanny. As per usual, Aunt Lil is calling to ask for a tiny little favor—a helping hand at a Manhattan soup kitchen. Naturally, T.S. wasn’t listening to her beggar’s soliloquy and unwittingly agrees to work that afternoon’s shift. But T.S.’s afternoon turns out to have more in store than ladling soup. Because no good deed goes unpunished—especially when Aunt Lil is involved.

In the middle of lunch—an inventive chili recipe Lil proudly boosted from a real life cowboy in Santa Fe—a little old lady suddenly jumps up, clutching at her throat . . . and drops dead. New York’s Finest couldn’t care less about the demise of an elderly woman who presumably had a heart attack. But a group of soup kitchen regulars—a crew of snooty failed actresses from the Eisenhower era—appear shaken. Turns out they knew the deceased. And their woeful reactions are dramatic, to say the least. But are they just acting?

Ever unable to keep her mouth shut, Aunt Lil offers up the shocked and (seemingly) grief-stricken actresses her nephew’s private investigator services to investigate the woman’s real identity. Reluctantly, T.S. agrees to help. After all, he dryly muses, it’s not like she was murdered. Famous last words.

Throughout this irresistibly cozy mystery, Aunt Lil’s tall tales sprinkle about as comic relief to a thoroughly engaging murder mystery. And true to form, she remains a nosey pest—who happens to be utterly adorable. And T.S.’s antics, reminiscent of Columbo or Agatha Christie’s finicky Hercule Poirot, will delight the fervent mystery fans.