If It’s Not One Thing, It’s a Murder-Liz Wolfe

If It’s Not One Thing, It’s a Murder
Liz Wolfe
Medallion, Aug 2008, $7.95
ISBN: 9781933836393

Skye Williams believes her marriage of over two decades to Craig is fine until she finds an amazon woman’s lingerie under his side of their mattress. She confronts Craig who denies he has a mistress, but confesses he is a cross dresser. Skye is not happy with his confession, but believes him until she finds him naked in bed with a man.

With no place to go except the mini-mansion of her friend Bobbie Jo, Skye moves there. When Bobbie Jo’s husband collapses during sex, he is rushed to the hospital where he dies. An autopsy reveals he was given an overdose of beta blockers. His wife is the obvious prime suspect, but other people had motives too especially his son who contests his late dad’s will. At the same time Skye’s married friend Lily has had an affair with two men for over a decade and is thinking of adding a third trophy to her male collection. Skye finds a new job, a place to live and starts dating while mulling over how to explain all that has happened to her eighteen years old daughter. However, she also feels she and her friends are unsafe until the real killer is caught so she begins eliminating suspects one at a time hoping to prove the last one standing is the culprit.

This tale is more a relationship drama than it is an amateur sleuth. The mystery scenes take place in between the friends discussing their male woes and dealing with the men in their lives and the life in their men (paraphrasing Mae West). The whodunit is well plotted though expected, but the three amigas make IF IT’S NOT ONE THING, IT’S A MURDER into a special contemporary tale.

Harriet Klausner