Bitter Brew

February 1, 2019
A medical examiner fears she may be shielding a murderer when she conceals her best friend's suicide.Jennifer Liu risks her medical license when she reports her best friend's death as an accident rather than suicide. But she'd promised Brianne Marston that she'd protect her secret if Brianne took her own life rather than face the slow and painful deterioration of Halstead's disease. Now Jennifer's having second thoughts. Another young victim appears in the morgue with the same cocktail of deadly drugs found in Brianne's body. Did Nels Farrow, afflicted with the same genetic disease as Brianne, conspire with her in a suicide pact? Did they independently discover the same recipe for ending their lives prematurely? Or were they killed by a third party to save them from suffering or for some darker reason? Before she turns herself in to the authorities, Jennifer has to know the truth. So she asks another close friend, private detective Savannah Reid (Hide and Sneak, 2018, etc.), to examine the connection between Brianne and Nels. Savannah doesn't mind; her husband Dirk Coulter's refusal to let her in on his latest case for the San Carmelita Police Department has left her with time on her hands. But discovering the real Brianne Marston proves a challenge. No sooner has her boyfriend, Paul Oxley, described Brianne in her last days as paranoid and delusional than Brianne's goat-keeper, Dee, reports that Brianne was highly centered and focused but abused and exploited by her good-for-nothing boyfriend. Struggling to untangle the riddle that was Brianne helps Savannah appreciate the complexities of living with a fatal illness, bring a killer to justice, and release Jennifer from the pain of self-doubt.Her forays into medical issues lead McKevett to crowd the best pieces of her puzzle into the last chapters, but she still offers enough detection to satisfy fans of the Moonlight Magnolia franchise.

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March 25, 2019
In McKevett’s poignant 24th Savannah Reid mystery (after 2018’s Hide and Sneak), PI Savannah of the Moonlight Magnolia Detective Agency in San Carmelita, Calif., looks into the suspicious death of Brianne Marston, who suffered from a debilitating disease. Brianne supposedly took her own life after asking a childhood friend, medical examiner Jennifer Liu, to falsify her autopsy results, thereby keeping her suicide a secret. But after Jennifer discovers the same drug mixture that killed Brianne in another body, the doctor comes to believe Brianne was murdered. A few folks, such as Brianne’s fiancé and her brother, stood to benefit from her fortune, but Savannah and her associates believe something more complex is at the heart of the case. Meanwhile, Savannah’s policeman hubby, Det. Sgt. Dirk Coulter, is acting squirrelly, leading her to believe he’s keeping a terrible secret. Clever banter adds levity to an emotionally taxing mystery, and Savannah’s Granny Reid offers her earthy wisdom and a shoulder to cry on. Fans of darker cozies will be well satisfied. Agent: Richard Curtis, Richard Curtis Assoc.

April 1, 2019
Medical examiner Jennifer Liu fulfills a promise to her best friend, Brianne, by falsifying her autopsy report, which states that Brianne died of natural causes. Jennifer believed Brianne committed suicide when the symptoms of her rare genetic disease became too much for her to bear. Later, after performing an autopsy on Nels Farrow, Jennifer learns that he died from the same rare combination of drugs as Brianne, leading her to believe the two were actually murdered. Although Jennifer knows she faces the possibility of losing her license and going to prison, she can't let a murderer go free, so she asks PI Savannah Reid to investigate. Hampered by Jennifer's request to keep the investigation secret, Savannah eventually persuades Jennifer to involve the rest of the Moonlight Magnolia Detective Agency. Meanwhile, Savannah must confront her growing conviction that her marriage is in trouble. This long-running cozy series again injects plenty of humor into the mystery and heightens interest with the frame story concerning rare genetic diseases. And, of course, the larger-than-life Savannah continues to delight.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)