Halloween Murder

Lindy Graham-Haggerty, rehearsal director for the Jeremy Ash Dance Company, is helping with the Mischief Night Marathon. It will be an old-fashioned Halloween fair with a bonfire, ghost stories, a haunted hay ride going through the woods and by dilapidated buildings, and a theatrical revue which she is to direct. It's all to raise money for a teen center. Everything is being held at the historic VanCleef Farm site. This is also where the teen center would be housed. The picketers across the street cause a lot of trouble for the fair.Then Lindy finds what she believes to be a dummy under the bridge. It turns out to be a dead man. Unfortunately it gets away because Adam Crabtree, the recluse, nudges it, and the current carries it off. To add to the trouble, the pranks begin. A chilling limerick, based on the Seven Deadly Sins, is found with each prank that happens. At first the pranks seem harmless. Then it turns deadly. Derrick Justin is found hanging from a rigged platform. Pinned to his shirt is only a single word -- lechery. Who wants to ruin Mischief Night forever and doesn't want the teen center? There are so many suspects Lindy is afraid they won't find the killer in time and it will be shut down. Then the much needed teen center will not happen either.I really enjoy this series. Lindy and her assorted dance company friends always keep the story interesting, especially Rebo. He is terrifically constructed. Plus Lindy is never certain what is going on with her marriage and this always lends to the story line as well.The additional characters, those working on the fair as well as those against the fair, really assist the story line. I highly recommend this book and series.

After an extended business trip in Europe, Lindy Haggerty is happy to be home though her husband and their daughter are in Europe and their son in Boston. The only family member around to keep Lindy company, is her son's dirty dog. However, in a definite weak moment or perhaps the beginning of senility, Lindy agrees to direct an amateur production during the town's Halloween carnival as part of the Mischief Night Marathon.However, the friendly intent at the onset quickly converts into people battling over the events. Soon someone takes the squabbles up a notch with pranks based on Spencer's Seven Deadly Sins. The antics start turning nastier and uglier until murder finally occurs. The killer turns towards Lindy as the eighth sinner worthy of death unless the retired dancer can find a different ending to this drama that allows her to voice the final coda.The fourth Lindy Haggerty amateur sleuth mystery, Halloween Murder, is a fun who-done-it that sub-genre readers will enjoy because the plot seems real due to the bickering of the ensemble cast that makes up the Mischief Night Marathon committee. The story line engages the audience from the very beginning when Lindy, feeling like a sucker, lectures the dirty dog snoozing in her car until the final curtain call. Series fans will relish this Halloween treat while newcomers will commence with a Shelley Freydont marathon.Harriet Klausner