It was a very happy day for mystery lovers when Marcia Talley's Hannah Ives series was picked up by Avon. It's certainly wonderful to have Hannah back, even though Marcia has kept busy editing serial novels and writing award-winning short stories. When a friend, with whom Hannah shared the indignities and the other effects of chemo appears to be cured or, at least in remission , Hannah is very happy to see her again. Then, not long after doing a "race for a cure", Valerie is found
dead in her bed by her small daughter. Hannah has her doubts about her friend's death. She was also curious how the family suddenly seemed to have so much money.
Hannah then runs into an insurance scheme in which brokers
buy insurance policies from the owners and then sell them to investors.
Old people and cancer patients seem to be the prime target of one
particularly aggressive broker. She then discovers that a number of old people in an assisted living/care facility have died not too long after selling their policies. Were the "investors" tired of waiting? So now I know about "viaticals" and the information was fascinating...as was
the plotting and characters. I thoroughly enjoyed IN DEATH'S SHADOW, which is now available. It's well worth the
paperback price. Heck, it would be worth a hardcover cost. Welcome back, Hannah.
