Death in a Mood Indigo
By Francine Mathews
Bantam, 304 pages, $22.95
When a curious dog and two young children unearth the bones of a long-dead woman on Sconset Beach, Nantucket, Detective Meredith “Merry” Folger is drawn into her third homicide investigation.
The rookie police detective has solved two in her short career, both under the watchful eyes of her father, the police chief, and her grandfather, the former police chief.
This is the third detective novel by Francine Mathews, a Denver author who also writes Jane Austen mysteries as Stephanie Barron.
While Folger works on the old murder, a new one occurs, and she becomes convinced they’re connected.
The first victim was a beautiful, brainy psychiatrist many thought died with her lover when his boat, Mood Indigo, sank the same night she disappeared. The other is a young woman Folger barely knows–but she knows the girl’s grandmother quite well.
The FBI invades the island, thinking the murder is part of a trail left by a serial killer from Boston. Folger struggles with her self-confidence as an FBI agent makes fun of her provincial approach to detective work. She wonders why the agents aren’t more concerned about who the victim is, rather than just the method for murder.
Though readers might guess the culprit before the story is finished, it won’t take away from the impact of the ending.
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Mathews explores some side issues in the book, such as child neglect as a form of abuse and the role of law enforcement personnel in the community. (She repeats several times that the job of the police is to protect and serve, not just chase down the bad guys.)
“Death in a Mood Indigo” is a page-turner in which you not only get a good read but also care about the characters and feel the story actually could have happened.
There are no long-lost evil twins here. Mathews ties up all the loose ends in a way that makes sense. Mystery fans should add her books to their reading lists.