Cozy

A hilarious and pacy Stanley Hastings mystery from the Edgar and Shamus Award nominee Parnell Hall.

Put-upon investigator Stanley Hastings is stranded at the Blue Frog Ponds Inn, a trendy New England bed-and-breakfast where he is vacationing with his wife Alice. Their cheerless room with its paper-thin walls, no TV, and a blue cartoon frog on the door is doing little for Stanley's spirits and even less for his libido. Besides that, someone has started bumping off the guests.

The first murder, in fact, happens practically under Stanley's nose. He is sitting in the dining room when, with an ear-splitting scream, a waitress discovers that the stunning young blonde she is serving has lost more than her appetite.

So it is that Stanley finds himself a key witness, if not a prime suspect, in the bristly local police chief's case. Back home in New York, Stanley could call on his friends in the force to help him solve the crime, but not at Blue Frog Ponds. Here he has only his wits, his wife, and a striped orange cat - all of which he will need if he's going to catch a killer before the culprit strikes uncozily close to home . . .