DEATH BY THE FINISH LINE

A charity race sends Snowberry Creek, Washington, newcomer Abby McCree running for cover.

Abby has been pretty much coasting since coming to town. She doesn’t need to work because her aunt left her a stately old Victorian house to live in, and the income from renting the back cottage is enough to keep her mastiff mix, Zeke, in dog biscuits. She spends her days whipping up yummy baked goods that she shares with her handsome tenant, Tripp Blackston, and Police Chief Gage Logan, her buddy. But Mayor’s Assistant Connie Pohler has her eye on this lady of leisure, and before she knows what hit her, Abby finds herself chairing Snowberry Creek’s Founder’s Day Salmon Scoot. Her co-chair, scruffy biker Gil Pratt, turns out to be an unanticipated godsend. Seems like the organizational skills Gil learned in the military have some welcome applications to small-town fun runs. Just as Abby and Gil are congratulating themselves on a job well done, some young bystanders find a body in the ravine by the finish line. The late James DiSalvo was a local busybody who specialized in shutting down local properties he considered eyesores. One of the sorest in his eyes was the motorcycle repair shop owned by Gil and his brother, Gary. Soon Gary is in the hoosegow, and it looks like no amount of pie will convince Gage to let go of his chief suspect. Fortunately, Abby’s work-free lifestyle gives her plenty of time to do what she does best: investigate crimes the police have got wrong.

Chasing the usual suspects yields the usual outcome.