False Picture

August 18, 2008
In Heley's sprightly second cozy to feature London detective Bea Abbot (after 2007's False Charity
), Bea insists her domestic agency doesn't do murder, but murder sneaks into her latest missing person case—the disappearance of her best friend Velma Weston's stepson, Philip, a wastrel who might have stolen a pre-Raphaelite painting by John Everett Millais either before or after Lady Lucinda Farne, his elderly godmother, was killed by a thief. The thief, who calls himself Rafael, plots to smuggle the loot he took from the victim, a collection of portrait miniatures and gold snuff boxes, out of the country. Meanwhile, Maggie, Bea's feisty assistant, goes undercover, taking a vacancy at the flat where Philip was living with several roommates. After Velma's husband has a heart attack, the action escalates for Heley's intrepid sleuth, who relies on “arrow prayers” rather than conventional weapons and knows just how to handle knife-wielding art thieves and missing bad boys.

September 1, 2008
The Abbott Agency, first introduced in "False Charity", does not investigate murder, yet Bea Abbott finds herself doing just that. She has Maggie (her housekeeper) and Oliver (her resident computer geek) going undercover while she poses as a cleaning lady. They go up against a deadly killer who leaves no witnesses. Heley, author of the Ellie Quick mysteries, has returned with a second engrossing tale featuring ample British humor.

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2008
Bea Abbott runs a small agency offering domestic services; sounds safe enough, but Bea has a nose for trouble. Her latest escapade involves her good friend Velma, whose dying husband wants to see his grown son, Philip, one last time. But Philip has disappeared. Can Bea find him? Bea, who is still recovering from the recent death of her own husband, thinks a spot of sleuthing might prove diverting. Heley offers fans a wacky British cozy with a bit of an edge, and although the plot is improbableanda few of the characters either irritating or silly, Bea makes it work on charm alone.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)