Emilie Richards, Let There Be Suspects

Let There Be Suspects

Emilie Richards

Berkley, Dec 2006, $6.99

ISBN: 0425213072

She is not the typical minister's wife as she was raised by a bohemian mother who kept her and her sisters moving from one show or Renaissance Fair to another. As a result of her childhood, Aggie Sloan-Wilcox and her two sisters are very tight with one another. With Christmas approaching, Aggie's siblings and their mother Janice are coming to the parsonage for the holidays.

Everyone is shocked when Janice brings Ginger, the foster sister the others hated for her spitefulness when they were growing up together. The animosity is strong by the time Sid tosses Ginger into a punch bowl because as always Ginger makes a play for Sid's boyfriend, kissing him. On Christmas Eve, Ginger's murdered body is found near the Nativity scene and Sid is the prime suspect. Aggie knows no one except Ginger's husband Cliff mourns her death. Using that assumption as a starting point, Aggie investigates the homicide because she believes Sid is innocent and plans to prove it by catching the culprit, who is willing to kill again.

Emilie Richards, well known for her romance and women's fiction novels writes a fantastic amateur sleuth tale that excels in realistic characterizations. There are plenty of humorous scenes especially when the heroine's family arrives to disrupt domestic tranquility. The victim was so universally disliked everyone wanted her dead, but with an overabundance of possibilities Aggie has no problem with LET THERE BE SUSPECTS; only with who went so far as to commit homicide.

Harriet Klausner