Murder in a Heat Wave by Gretchen Sprague
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wandering through a local second-hand bookstore which was closing (Sigh…), I noticed this book and picked it up–intrigued by the title. I read the blurb and the first page and decided to buy if for 50 cents. After I read it, I was sorry, I hadn’t picked up the other two titles in the series. And looking Gretchen up online, I discovered that she died suddenly around 2004 and that was the end of her mysteries. That’s a lesson to all authors–WRITE FAST. None of us know how many books we will be able to finish. (I am taking my own advice. 🙂

ANYWAY- back to the book–I loved Martha Patterson, the amateur sleuth. I’ve never been to NYC but she made me comfortable in Greenwich Village, Her Village as she terms it. She drew me in with artful and convincing characters–all angry at the coop board –in the midst of one of those infrequent heat waves–THE AIR-CON broken at the worst of wrong times.

Then the head of the coop board is found dead in the apt next to Martha’s. And everyone wants to confide something in Martha–a calm, efficient retired lawyer. And of course, Martha discovers who the murderer is.

I like the steady pace of the mystery–not too fast, not too slow. And the tension was to my taste. I’m not into thrillers but I enjoy an interesting mystery with a competent sleuth with a supporting cast of intriguing suspects. Well done, Gretchen. Sorry we lost you too soon–Lyn Cote

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