England, grief, grieving, gossip, small-town, pets, small-business, archivist, friends, family-dynamics, family-drama, series, Lothario, detective, frenemy, amateur-sleuth, friendship, situational-humor, gambling-addiction, siblings, investigation, widows,*****

Local Councilman Len died in his office and Beth Haldane is coerced into attending with her long widowed mother, Wendy. Turns out that all of the mourners are women in their fifties who each claims to be his favorite (think Viagra) except for the one who claims to be his wife. Beth is also a widow, her son Jake's at that awkward testosterone age, and her relationship with local DI Harry York (and his massive book collection of Golden Age novels) is getting a bit too comfortable.
Wendy wants Beth to investigate the man's death because she is sure that one of the others murdered him, so Beth gets her good friend, Katy. But then the councilman's secretary is murdered and the sleuthing really gets serious! A really pleasant read about the kind of people you'd find anywhere involved in things we'd rather leave between the pages of a good book.
I requested and received and EARC from Bookoutre via NetGalley. Thanks for the fun cozy!