June 4, 2012
Like any family old enough to have its own “Washington slept here” story, Philadelphia’s Blackbirds have plenty of skeletons in the closet—but right now it’s the newly discovered one in an elevator that concerns society columnist Nora and her sisters at the outset of Martin’s eighth cozy to feature the madcap Main Line clan (after 2008’s Murder Melts in Your Mouth). And that’s not the only nasty surprise levelheaded Nora, lusty Libby, and a very pregnant Emma encounter during their first visit in decades to Quintain, the decaying estate they have just inherited from their late globe-trotting great-aunt, Madeleine—almost everything of value has vanished from the property. Add to the mix Madeleine’s lecherous and possibly larcenous lawyer, Simon Groatley; the sisters’ smarmy cousin, Sutherland; Nora’s Mafia prince love, Michael “Mick” Abruzzo; assorted ponies and one very endearing pig, and you have the makings for a fizzy, entertaining adventure. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency.
August 1, 2012
The death of her great-aunt sends Philadelphia socialite Nora Blackbird (Murder Melts in Your Mouth, 2008, etc.) into a nicely accessorized tizzy. It's not easy running Blackbird Farm, her family's sprawling Main Line estate, on her salary as a society-page reporter. Not even with the help of her pregnant sister, Emma, who supplements their income giving riding lessons, or the encouragement of her ditzy sister, Libby, whose attempts to raise five children and post pictures of her latest pedicure to her website, PitterPat, leave her no time to actually earn money. So Nora is overjoyed to learn that her great-aunt, "Madcap" Madeleine Blackbird, left her estate to the three sisters and their cousin, Sutherland. Unfortunately, her trip back to Quintain reveals the mansion stripped of all the glittering treasures Nora remembers from her childhood visits. But worse than what's gone is what's been added: a skeletonized corpse trapped in the elevator. While Sutherland tries in vain to seduce Nora into a partnership that will consolidate his hold over their joint inheritance, Nora slips a Dior spring jacket over her vintage lace suit and hits the charity fundraiser circuit, hoping that someone from Maddie's flamboyant past can ID the deceased. But her boyfriend, repentant mobster Michael "Mick" Abruzzo, is not the kind who can let a lace suit pass unnoticed, particularly when it encases his shapely paramour. Will Mick's release from prison to house arrest at Blackbird Farm distract Nora from her mission, or will his connections help her solve the puzzle from the past? Slightly gamer than in her earlier exploits, Nora steps closer to the plate in Martin's latest outing.
COPYRIGHT(2012) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
August 1, 2012
The high-society Blackbird sisters swoop back in their eighth madcap case (after 2008's Murder Melts in Your Mouth) when their great-aunt dies and leaves them an inheritance hiding a grisly secret.
Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
August 1, 2012
Former debutantes, the sisters Nora, Libby and Emma Blackbird are down on their luck. When they learn that their great aunt, Madeleine Blackbird, has died in a volcano eruption in Indonesia, leaving them her Bucks County, Pennsylvania, estate, their futures look brighteruntil they visit the estate. Doing a walk-through with the lawyers and a sheriff's deputy, they find the mansion in disrepair and many of their great-aunt's fine art pieces missing. They also find a skeleton in an elevator shaft. Their smarmy cousin, Aunt Madeleine's stepson, shows up, acting too cozy with the lawyer for Nora's taste. Meanwhile, Nora's fiance, Michael, whose family runs the local Mob, is released from prison on house arrest. Nora, the society columnist for a Philadelphia newspaper, uses her contacts to learn more about her aunt, known by some as Madcap Maddy. Nora's investigation takes her from high-society functions to seamy pawnshops to childrens' pony-riding classes, all the while dressed in her grandmother's vintage haute couture. The eighth in the Blackbird Sisters series is a delightful combination of romance, farce, and mystery, with realistic dialogue despite the plot's less plausible twists and turns.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)