Murder, Eh?: A Belle Palmer Mystery

Darleen R. Golke is a high-school teacher-librarian in Abbotsford, B.C.

In this fourth Belle Palmer mystery, the Sudbury realtor, always anxious
for a commission, agrees to list a handsome Lake Ramsey property for a
local businesswoman. However, when Belle arrives to show prospective
buyers the house, she discovers the owner’s lifeless body in the
bathtub. She is the third woman to die in similar circumstances in
Sudbury in the last month, leading police to suspect a serial killer.
The victim leaves behind a 12-year-old son, Micro, and her new husband.
Dave seems appropriately devastated by his wife’s death and so
determined to find the killer that he hires a private investigator
because the police have no suspects. Belle, drawn into the
investigation, agrees to help the PI.

Micro’s stepfather assumes custody, but Micro dislikes Dave and runs
away. Police find suspicious emails on his computer suggesting that a
pedophile has lured the boy away. After Micro calls Belle’s cellphone
to let her know he is being held against his will, she takes steps that
result in her becoming a prisoner herself.

Belle is a strong, resourceful, and appealing character, despite her
obtuse failure to follow the clues about the murderer’s identity.
Allin’s well-crafted, comfortably paced story offers enough
misdirection to hold the reader’s interest from start to finish.