CROOKED PATHS

The new summer season is about to begin when the Institution, a spiritual/cultural/artistic center in Western New York, is stirred up by another murder of one of its prominent part-time residents.

Beautiful, wealthy 44-year-old socialite Connie de Palma roars up to her small cottage and steps out of her rented Porsche. Her new, young, and very handsome assistant/handyman, Jonas Carrington, exits from the passenger side. Mimi Goldman, former writer and editor for the New York Post and currently the sports reporter for the Chautauquan Daily, watches from her home down the street. Mimi has finally married her longtime squeeze, Walt, an epicurean, and she is now the grandmother of 8-month-old Charlie. Life is good. Until six days later, when Connie disappears, and Mimi and Jonas find her body by a stream in a popular gorge a few miles outside the grounds of the Institution. The local police decide there was no foul play, but Mimi is sure something is amiss. And so once again, Chautauqua’s intrepid amateur detective begins digging beneath the enclave’s genteel veneer. Everybody seems to be hiding one thing or another, and her investigations yield enough suspects to keep readers guessing. They also put Mimi in the crosshairs of the killer, which adds another thrill to this modern cozy. Solving the mystery, as usual, is only part of the fun in Pines’ Chautauquan series. Favorite repeat characters and gentle sendups of the Institution provide the laughs. For example, this season’s new sport is “Beckyball,” a hybrid of tennis and pickleball designed for the arthritic set not quite up to the rigors of tennis. Mimi’s delightful nonagenarian friend Sylvia Pritchard is back to share theories and to chauffeur Mimi around in her daughter’s Prius (Mimi, a New York City gal, never learned how to drive). And her adored son, Jake, who loves a good mystery as much as his mother, does the internet research. The narrative unspools gracefully and steadily, matching the recreational pace of the quaint setting, leaving time for enjoyable character-defining dialogue.

An entertaining addition to a reliable beach-read series.