Thanet and Lineham reassemble the guests from the party, Virginia's daughter Rachel and her new fiancé, her sister Jane and her boyfriend Arnold, and the next door neighbors Howard and Marilyn Squires, and Ralph's mother, a very independent woman who does not entirely approve of her son's choice of wife.

Thanet quickly learns that Virginia was a very flirtatious woman who had several extra marital affairs and had been involved with two men present, in addition to her husband. He also learns that Virginia and Ralph had another daughter Caroline who eloped with the gardener four years earlier and has not been heard from since. Rachel is suspicious of the new gardener who she thinks is taking pictures of the family without their knowledge. Under pressure from his bosses, Thanet quickly and methodically works the case to discover who had the biggest reason for wanting Virginia dead and along the way he is able to solve some of the family's other secrets.

Dead and Gone is a solid English police procedural mixed with a typical cozy mystery with a finite number of suspects. There are several people who had a motive and the opportunity to kill Virginia, making it harder to sort out who is telling the truth and who is hiding something.

Inspector Thanet remains a fresh character, even after over a dozen outings. He is not weary of his job, nor does he let his worries over his daughter Bridget's difficult pregnancy interfere with his clear and logical thinking.

Well placed, neatly laid out clues will make solving this mystery easy, but not so easy as to ruin the remainder of the book. Dorothy Simpson offers a nice twist as Thanet not only solves Virginia's murder, but is able to locate Caroline. This is another solid entry into a dependable series that easily combines two favorite mystery genres.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry