Nashville Noir
Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain
Obsidian, Apr 2010, $22.95
ISBN: 9780451229274

In Cabot Cove, Maine the Cabot Cove Cares supports each year a young artist. This year's winner is eighteen years old singer-songwriter Cyndi Blaskowitz who is going to Nashville on a scholarship. If she is fortunate her songs will be recorded. Cyndi has an appointment to meet music executive Roderick Marker, who she hopes will help her after hearing one of her tunes.

A few weeks later, Cyndi fails to call her mom as she has done everyday since arriving in Music Town. Instead she was arrested for the murder of Roderick. Cyndi's mother begs Jessica to clear her daughter so the writer travels to Nashville. Her reputation gets Cyndi out of jail as long as Jessica is responsible for the teen who wears an electronic monitor. The author's inquiry soon finds a score of people wanting Marke dead, but who actually killed him remains difficult to determine.

The Jessica Fletcher mysteries are always a nice treat for cozy fans as the American Miss Marple simply asks questions while strumming up an ensemble of suspects in her latest whodunit. Nashville Noir shows the other side of the Music Town far from the glitter as Jessica plays a delightful New Englander country virtuoso with the Tennessee Waltz.

Harriet Klausner