The Christening Day Murder [Mass Market Paperback]

Ex-nun Christine Bennett makes her third foray into amateur sleuthing in a tale that will delight fans of the American "cozy." Thirty years ago, the inhabitants of Studsburg, N.Y., all relocated when the town was flooded to create a reservoir. But drought has left the small town temporarily high and dry, and while visiting her childhood friend, Maddie Stifler, Chris pokes about and discovers the remains of a young woman hidden in the Catholic church. Disturbed by the local police's indifference to the fate of the unidentified woman, Chris begins making a few inquiries among former residents who still live nearby. Ex-residents make the town sound like a Norman Rockwell painting come to life but some balk at Chris's probing questions: is it because time gives memories a rosy tint, Chris wonders, or because old friends are closing ranks to protect one of their own? Although Chris's significant other, NYPD Sgt. Jack Brooks, lends a bit of practical assistance, Chris's own doggedness and her ability to zero in on suspicious discrepancies lead her to success along a trail that Harris ( The Good Friday Murder ) sprinkles with surprises up to the very end.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Former nun Christine Bennett is looking forward to the christening of her friend Maddie's baby. But when she goes to the church basement of the town that was flooded out thirty years before, Christine stumbles upon the skeletel remains of a body--the grim result of a thirty-year old murder. Trying to sort out the sordid puzzle from the past, Christine manages to unravel the dark secets of the once close-knit community, and also reveals a killer who's not afraid to kill again....

I always look forward to a new mystery by Lee Harris. Her novels about ex-nun Christine Bennett are in that central range between cozy and hardboiled -- the perfect balance. Ever since I encountered Christine Bennett in THE GOOD FRIDAY MURDER, which was nominated for an Edgar Award as best first novel, I've been fascinated by the author's depiction and development of her heroine -- Christine matures in surprising (but always believeable ways) as the series continues. It would be hard to pick my favorite Lee Harris mystery, but certainly among my favorites is THE CHRISTENING DAY MURDER, in which a thirty-year-old unsolved murder has impact on present-day menace.

--Joe Blades, Associate Publisher