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Pane of Death by Sarah Atwell |
| (Prime Crime, $6.99, NV) ISBN 978-0-425-22501-1 |
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| In the ten years Emmeline Dowell has made Tucson her home, she has made a name for herself as a craftsperson – a glassblower. The factory she purchased and restored makes a very good shop with plenty of room to practice her craft and teach it, along with a nice apartment upstairs. Brother Cam is only as far away as San Diego and visits often, though Em suspects her new employee Allison has as much to do with Cam’s visits as Em does. With ex-boyfriend Detective Matt Lundgren back in the picture, all is pretty okay in Em’s world.
Em is surprised when fellow glassworker, Maddy Sheffield approaches her to work together on an installation project. Em is uncertain at first, she considers Maddy a lightweight artist whose stained glass pieces are mostly made to attract the tourist trade. When Maddy learns the installation is six treasured windows in computer mogul Peter Ferguson’s new home, she agrees to at least make an initial visit. Em is immediately taken with the windows, and with their owner, more than she expected. She is even more surprised when Peter asks her back without Maddy and confesses that he knows Maddy isn’t the one for the job, but that he is doing his mother a favor for an old family friend. On her visit to see the last window, Em finds Peter dead and all the rather large windows missing. Maddy immediately points a finger at Em and Matt takes the accusation seriously and begins to treat Em as a serious person of interest, much to Em’s annoyance. Because of the art theft, the FBI is brought in and agent Natalie Karamanlis is more than happy to have Em’s input – and Cam’s computer expertise, much to Matt’s chagrin. Pane of Death is a fun, quick mystery that offers a lot of stained glass history. Atwell’s first mystery, Through a Glass, Deadly focused more on the craft of glassblowing. Peter is a very likable character during his short appearance and it is too bad he ended up as the murder victim as he and Em had a good rapport and his presence would have added interest to Em and Matt’s relationship. Nat is an interesting addition to the mix as well, and she appears to have eyes for Cam who is holding out for Allison’s full attentions.
The dynamics of Matt and Em’s relationship is curious as it unfolds, especially after Maddy accuses her of murder and Matt decides, professionally, he must take the accusation seriously. The plot proceeds along predictably and there are very few surprises in store during the final scenes. It is the well-drawn, full of life characters that propel this story and will have readers wanting to return to Tucson.
--Jennifer Monahan Winberry |
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