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After a five year absence, Helma Zukas makes a very welcome return in her ninth mystery, BOOKMARKED TO DIE. Helma is a meticulous librarian who likes to keep everything in her life tidy and organised. She is so uptight and proper it is a considerable achievement that the author, Jo Dereske, makes her so sympathetic and likeable. Helma's penchant for solving mysteries certainly helps, as does her relationship with her friend Ruth, a flamboyant artist, and her grudging acceptance of responsibility for Boy Cat Zukas, a black cat who has adopted her. Whilst five years has passed in the real world, it has moved more slowly in the fictional town of Bellehaven, Washington State, where BOOKMARKED TO DIE is set. Ruth has been living away for a year, but has lost her inspiration to paint, and returns to set up camp in Helma's spare room to see if she can recover it. Helma has just turned 42, and is feeling very flat; she has lost her spark, her concentration, and before long her cat too. And something seems very wrong with her relationship with Chief of Police Wayne Gallant who seems to be ignoring her. At work, her co-workers have also noticed something is wrong, and her New Age boss insists she takes a series of self help courses to sort herself out or she will not let Helma launch the local authors project on which she has been working. The launch is a chaotic success, but one of the authors is killed on their way home in a hit and run accident, and another dies after one of the self-help groups Helma was forced to attend. Ruth encourages Helma to investigate and suddenly her old spirit kicks in as they interview suspects and follow leads. This is one of my favourite cosy series, and BOOKMARKED TO DIE does not disappoint. The usual fine cast of characters is back, and the plot is intriguing and peppered with enough red herrings to keep the reader guessing until the end. I really hope we don't have to wait another five years for a further episode.
Reviewed by Bridget Bolton, April 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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