Murder by Death

24 books and this woman can still plot a murder.  I hope her friends are careful not to piss her off too badly.

Having said that, I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as I've enjoyed past books.  A reader would never be able to accuse Ms. Hart of keeping clues from her readers, but this book felt super heavy on the speculative introspection and lists of suspects; I started skimming over these sections pretty early on in the book.  Also, the police chief, Billy Cameron, has been on the force and working with (and sometimes against) Max and Annie for 24 murder investigations and he's still trying to tell them they're barking up the wrong tree.  Honestly, after more than 24 murders, if they tell him the sky is purple, he should just nod and say "absolutely!"  Watching him get proved wrong...again, is just getting tiresome - no matter how graceful he is about it.

Both those issues together though are only a small part of what is still a very enjoyable, fast-paced read written by someone who knows how to write well beyond her genre's current standard.  Ms. Hart is who cozy writers should want to be when they grow up.  Generally, I strongly dislike multiple POV, third-person writing, because I find it rarely done well, but the Death on Demand books are both and I don't mind it a bit.

In cozies, this series is as close to a contemporary classic as you can get and I'm looking forward to the next one.