David Handler The Sweet Golden Parachute

The Sweet Golden Parachute

David Handler

Dunne, Mar 2006, $23.95, 304 pp.

ISBN 0312342111

In Dorset, Connecticut, police trooper Desir e "Des" Mitry struggles with the marriage proposal from her lover, film critic Mitch Berger (see THE BURNT ORANGE SUNRISE). Even though she loves him she has doubts about tying the knot. While Des procrastinates, eccentric aristocratic renowned chef Poochie Vickers has been behaving odd even for her; at least that is what her daughter Caroline claims as she tries to take legal control of her mother's assets. However, her weird behavior, which may be a sign of aging, like Mitch's proposal, take a back seat to the discovery of the corpse of homeless Pete found on Poochie's property at about the same time she reported someone stole her Mercedes.

The Dorset townsfolk immediately assume that sibling convicts Stevie and Donnie Kershaw, just freed from prison, committed both crimes as their family has an ongoing feud with the Vickers seemingly forever. Adding to the tension between the families is a Romeo and Juliet romance that except for the star-crossed pair everyone else objects to. Des uses the case to defer her response to Mitch as she is too busy investigating the homicide, which quickly turns into a second murder.

The Mitry-Berger mysteries started off as some of the best police procedurals published and somehow keep getting better with each new fresh entry because they are entertaining and gripping. The fifth who-done-it, THE SWEET GOLDEN PARACHUTE, is a fantastic police investigation that is made trickier by the hatred between the Dorset equivalent of the Hatfields and McCoys. The marriage proposal is always at the edge of the gripping story line as Des wants to say yes because she loves Mitch, but the terrible things people do pushes her towards refusing. David Handler handles her personal woes perfectly as part of a strong mystery.