Done Hazards of the Game-Norma Tadlock Johnson

Done Hazards of the Game
Norma Tadlock Johnson
Five Star, Aug 18 2010, $25.95
ISBN 9781594148811

Following the funeral of her husband Fred, their well meaning friends drive Seattle suburban widow Paula Madigan crazy until one of them a widow also arranges for her to meet with Mrs. Pappas. To escape the friends, Paula agrees to housesit and watch Mum-mum and Carioca the cats at Kamiak Hills, overlooking Puget Sound while Mrs. Pappas is away. She and her new friend, next door neighbor Ellen Cogsdill are playing golf at the country club when they find a female hand in a sand trap.

Soon afterward, Paula’s thirteen-year-old granddaughter Laurie Shuler is coming to spend the summer with her. She is excited about her “roommate”, but until recently was unaware of Laurie’s existence as she and her daughter had not spoken in sixteen years four months thanks to dearly departed Fred. Laurie makes friends with the felines and Ellen’s oldest twelve-year-old Josh. The foursome investigates the case of the mostly buried female corpse. They begin to fin all sorts of nefarious secrets that lead to someone warning them to back of or else. That person driving a silver vehicle tries to kill them while more homicides rock Kamiak Hills.

The latest Cedar Harbor Mystery (see Donna Rose and the Slug War and Donna Rose and the Roots of Evil) allows Donna Rose a breather as a new young mateur sleuth team investigates the sand trap grave. The youngsters-feline investigation place them in danger from a killer who plans to remain anonymous at all costs. With a dysfinctional family subplot rounding out the latest Cedar Habror whodunit, readers will enjoy this fun cozy.

Harriet Klausner