PJ’s son and her best friend Lovey’s son are suspended for a day for throwing spitballs and the high school’s skeleton buddy keeps showing up in unexpected places dressed as a vampire. Harmless pranks, but PJ feels something more sinister in the air connected with the new chief of police’s son, Roger Cartwright.

When town elder Luigi Alsop goes missing, his daughter is frantic as the entire town searches for him. When he is found bound in a cave, Gina is very relieved, even if he is very ill, but what is found next to him is even more disturbing. Next to Papa Luigi is the body of Roger Cartwright and a gun. Now Papa Luigi has become the prime suspect in the bully’s murder and the police have two good motives. PJ can’t believe Papa Luigi would kill the young man and begins to look into who else might have had a motive to want Roger dead. At the same time, PJ is trying to figure out her relationship with Ian, a relationship that is in its fledgling state. But it may never get past that stage if the smart and attractive Missy continues to hang around Cobb’s Landing.

While Cobb’s Landing is a charming setting, the fact that PJ lives next door to her childhood best friend, who married her high school sweetheart and whose young boys are the same age and best friends grates quickly. The two women walk in and out of each other’s houses as if they were their own and hardly even have a meal alone with their families. While some may feel this close, small town friendship is charming it overpowers the book and quickly becomes annoying. While PJ is still a young woman, she is the mother of a soon-to-be teenager and the mayor of a New England town and the tone of the book is often young and casual.

Some of the scams Roger is involved in are easy to see and make sense, but the biggest one seems out of his league, even for a juvenile delinquent. It will be easy to guess who shot Roger and the resolution of that seems too easy, almost flippant and out of character for the murderer. A loose plot detracts from the charming town setting and less than sparkling characters bore rather than add to the overall tenor of the book.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry