Tim Myers, Death Waxed Over

Death Waxed Over

Tim Myers

Berkley, Out 2005, $6.99, 220 pp.

ISBN 0425206378

In New Conover, North Carolina is the home of Harrison Black the owner of the candle making store At Wick's End and the business complex it is located in River's Edge. He is finally starting to show a profit when Gretel Barnett opened Flickering Lights in Micah's Ridge only two miles way. To drum up new business, Harrison decides to have a booth at the New Conover Founder's Day Fair.

He sees Gretel there and the two get into an argument before retiring to their respective booths. When Harrison takes a lunch break, he walks near Gretel's booth at the same time someone shoots her. When the wife of the town's newspaper editor accuses of him of killing Gretel going so far as to say she saw him get rid of the gun, Harrison becomes the police's number one suspect. Besides the damage to his reputation, business at the store drops forcing Harrison to conduct his own investigation to clear his name and win back his customers.

This regional cozy is a brilliantly constructed who-done-it as the killer hides in plain sight while Harrison tries to clear his name and that of the police's other suspect. Besides excellent storytelling that makes for a good reading experience, readers learn a lot about candle making and life in a small southern town. Tim Myers, nominated for an Agatha award, is a talented writer who deserves to hit the bestseller lists.

Harriet Klausner