Justin Scott — Stonedust (Ben Abbott Mystery)

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 1995 Paperback, 304pp. Ben Abbott is back in StoneDust, a complex, richly plotted, and enthralling mystery that tests this witty, literate realtor and fledgling detective as never before. The Fisks’ weekend party, a â€oesleep-over” for select couples, remains the talk of the town long after Reg Hopkins’ body turns up in an isolated covered bridge. For Reg may have paid the party a fleeting visit—before dying in a way everyone swears was impossible. Ben, who used to play backyard baseball with Reg and all the party guests, must take up the matter with a hometown cast of friends, foes, and family—including his ninety-year-old Aunt Connie, the rising politician and his sometime lover Vicky McLachlan, the comely and ambitious State Police Detective Marian Boyce, and a pair of deadly housebreakers. Soon everybody’s getting much more in the way of kicks than they bargained for. Cover lightly worn with some spotting. (ISBN: 9780006477129). Good.