BLACK BEANS & VICE

The five members of the Supper Club of Quincy’s Gap, always looking for new ways to slim down, try hypnotherapy, with mixed results.

Though he’s far from convinced that visits to the Wellness Village’s resident hypnotist will work, librarian James Henry has a very important reason to get in shape. His former wife Jane and son Eliot are back in his life, and he hopes to keep the relationship permanent. When a vehement animal-rights group stages a noisy demonstration at a local food fair, James and his friends Lindy, Lucy, Gillian and Bennett are drawn into the investigation of the death of the local councilman whom James and Eliot were unlucky enough to find dead of an apparent heart attack in a Village bathroom. Meanwhile, Jane has been plagued by someone who’s leaving dead crows and cryptic messages at her home. Now that her former boyfriend has transferred back to her department, Supper Club member and police officer Lucy Hanover has gotten over her failed relationship with James, and they pitch in together to see if they can catch the vicious prankster. When the leader of the animal-rights demonstration is found dead, James and family take in the victim’s Schnauzer and her cat, and the whole Supper Club put their efforts into solving the crimes.

Calorie-conflicted cozy fans will enjoy the latest exploits of the Supper Club (The Battered Body, 2009, etc.) along with the appended recipes.