Wicked Schemes is the ninth book in Deb Pines' traditional whodunit Chautauqua Mysteries featuring the wise and witty reporter/grandma sleuth Mimi Goldman.

"An Agatha Christie for the text-message age," IndieReader calls the top-selling series.

When a local online message-board post says, "A Murder is Announced," all are welcome, on July 18, 2021, at 9:15 p.m. at Merrill Manor, Chautauqua is abuzz.

Many show up expecting a harmless murder-mystery game.

But then the lights go out. An intruder yells, "Stick 'em up." Three shots are fired. And, by the door, lies . . . the body of the intruder, in costume.

Was it a botched robbery? Or something else?

In this page-turning riff on an Agatha Christie classic, the police, of course, are no help. So reporter and relentless snoop Mimi Goldman (known as "Chautauqua's Miss Marple") and her fearless 90-year-old sidekick Sylvia Pritchard dig in.

They find secrets galore among Merrill Manor's guests who include -- host Betsy Kowalski, a haughty ex-Wall Streeter, her actor nephew, a simpering childhood friend, an elderly tenant with a grudge, a standoffish gardener, a mansplaining ex-judge and a lovesick writer.

As the body count mounts, Mimi and Sylvia go into overdrive, staging a high-stakes showdown -- to try to nab an unhinged killer and solve their ninth and trickiest whodunit yet.

Fans of Agatha Christie and Louise Penny and "Only Murders in the Building" will enjoy this intricately plotted whodunit that's been called a "rollicking homage to the Queen of Mystery."