Murder by Death

This came sooo close to being a really excellent cozy, but as is, it's a very good one. 

Nixy is called to Lilyvale, Arkansas by the local detective because he's been called out to the home of Nixy's aunt and  her friends one too many times for fires and explosions and there's talk about the courts stepping in and shipping them all off to a nursing home.  When she arrives she finds 6 people that are anything but incompetent and a rather unconventional reason for all the false alarms.  She also finds an unscrupulous developer itching to get her hands on the family land - and everyone else's too. 

There are a lot of things to love about this book:  strong, independent senior citizens, a strong, independent, educated main character who never, ever resorts to ditzy behaviour or immature behaviour, and a charming small town setting.  The mystery was better than average too, although the murderer wasn't hard to figure out after the half-way mark.

The only reason I didn't rate it higher was Nixy's declaration that she was 'investigating' the murder and she wouldn't rest until she solved it and cleared her aunt.  That, for me, left a disappointing dent in my enjoyment.  In every other way this mystery was great, it just crossed that line into immaturity when the MC decided she could do the police's job better than they could.

I'm interested in reading the next one, as it was easy to grow fond of the characters and setting.  But its with the hope that future mysteries will be more subtly crafted.