Pawsitively Guilty
Cindy Keen Reynders
Medallion, Dec 2008, $7.95
ISBN: 9781933836607

Owners of the Saucy Lucy Cafe, Lexie Lightfoot and her sister Lucy, who is married to the county sheriff, live in Moose Creek Junction, Wyoming. Crime, especially violent crime, is rare in the small-town. However, when the occasional murder occurs, somehow Lexie is in the middle. Of everything; Lucy goes along with her in order to keep her sibling out of trouble, an impossible task.

At the cafe, wealthy reclusive Eleni Andros uses the Heimlich Maneuver to save the life of Lexie choking on a carrot. Lexie is grateful to the heroine and Eleni begins to work at the cafe. However, one day dependable Eleni fails to show up or answer her phone. This is out of character for the reliable woman so the sisters go over to insure she is okay. No one greets them but Lexie's dog leads them to a body buried in the rose garden. With the best detective on vacation and the cop assigned to investigate vanishing, Lexie takes over inquiring into who would kill a friend of hers.

The second Lexie-Lucy amateur sleuth (see 'The Saucy Lucy Murders) is a charming regional whodunit with plenty of humors and winks. Since Eleni was rich, Lexie begins with the greedy inheritance motive, but the horde of family members prove overwhelming to sort through while Lucy tries to persuade her to let the cops do their job. Lurch the dog provides comic relief with his flatulence emissions as Cindy Keen Reynders provides an enjoyable down home mystery inside a warm family drama.

Harriet Klausner