The Fruit of Lies:: A Chautauqua Murder Mystery

"An Agatha Christie for the text-message age," IndieReader calls the series.

When tyrannical billionaire Thomas C. Whistler drowns in a Japanese soaking tub in his Chautauqua McMansion in July 2018, was it an accident?

The police aren't sure. A note from the dead energy-bar magnate and phony TED Talk speaker says, "Don't let my killer get away with it."

So reporter and relentless snoop Mimi Goldman digs in. She questions Whistler's guilty-looking heirs, his seven glib and greedy kids, including: an ambitious actor, a building contractor, a Shakespearean scholar, a socialite and daughter with Down syndrome.

Assisted by her computer-savvy son Jake and her 92-year-old sidekick (and wheelman) Sylvia Pritchard, Mimi even leaves Chautauqua this time to poke around nearby pawnshops and Lily Dale, a spooky Spiritualist community.

Mimi feels like she's getting nowhere -- until someone runs Sylvia's car off the road, landing the pair of persistent gumshoes in a ditch.

Battered but hopeful, Mimi reexamines old clues and lies until she realizes the sad truth of this case -- in time to say "I do" to her devoted beau Walt.

Fans of Agatha Christie, Louise Penny, Elly Griffiths and "Only Murders in the Building" will enjoy this twist-filled mystery Kirkus Reviews calls, "A breezy distraction that will keep readers guessing."