Last Lessons of Summer

Margaret Maron

When her grandmother died, Amy Steadman inherited the family business. Her grandparents had created a series of much loved children books that grew into a large franchise. Her mother, an only child, had committed suicide in the family home in North Carolina when Amy was three. Her grandmother lived there until she died.

Now Amy has gone to North Carolina to sort through her grandmother's things, She reconnects with her Southern cousins. This is a chance to think through the problems she's having with her husband. She also wants to dig into the past and learn more about her mother's death. Every family member, including her father, have shielded her from any memory. She had been there that day her mother died.

A visit from the local police (including Dwight Bryant) shortly after she arrives brings surprising news. Instead of being killed by an intruder, it appears her grandmother was murdered by someone who knew her. It was probably someone in the family. But is it someone from the Southern family or the Northern one in New York? And why? When Amy receives a threatening phone call, it's possible she will be next.

Margaret Maron stepped away from her Deborah Knott series to write this stand alone novel. It is a warm, family oriented novel with family secrets leading to a group of mysteries both ancient and current. The dynamics of the relationships of the characters add an extra dimension to the layers of the story. It seems simple and straightforward.

Yet Maron has twisted her story line on top of itself. The reader takes her clues and makes the logical conclusions that are apparent. But... And she keeps it up all the way through to the end of Last Lessons of Summer.

This is a good cozy mystery that satisfies the reader. I was never deeply involved, yet was pulled in. You'll enjoy this book. 

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