Anita Collier is missing.

She appears to be alive, as her bills are paid, albeit directly from her bank account. Her phone calls are answered but by voice mail. Actually, no one has seen her in weeks.

Grant Davies may have been the last person to speak with Anita Collier. But he isn't talking. Private Detective Ernie Freedman is convinced that Grant knows where Anita is. And Edna Davies, Grant's mother, doesn't; want to see him sent to jail for murder.

Ernie turns to Edna and challenges her to help find Anita. To save Grant from himself, if that means she must turn sleuth, well you do what is necessary.

A cozy mystery without the outlandish characters many authors have created to qualify as cozy eccentric or quirky characters. ( )

This book is sort of a literary equivalent to the British Midsummer Murders TV series except it's set Colorado. By this I mean bodies appear frequently and unexpectedly. Are these deaths natural, or is foul play involved? In an interesting twist the person who painstakingly tries to find the answer, isn't a police officer, nor a tortured despotic genius, just an ordinary wife, mother and grandmother who unwittingly becomes involved in a search for a missing woman and possibly a killer or killers unknown – one of whom could be her own son. The plot moves along fairly quickly and soon it is as difficult for the reader to know who to trust, as it is for Edna. As in Midsummer Murders all is eventually explained. The denouement is cleverly done and believable. A few nice subplots keep the storyline moving and help to flesh out the protagonist by giving her character more depth.
If its car chases and serial killers under the bed you like, then this may not be the novel for you, but for people who like this style of storytelling (crime solving by observation and conversation) I'd recommend you give it a try.

Nina Jon is the author of the newly released Magpie Murders, a series of short murder mysteries with a Cluedo-esque element.
She is also the author of the Jane Hetherington's Adventures in Detection crime and mystery series, about private detective Jane Hetherington. ( )