THE BODY IN THE GALLERY

Forgeries and murder now on exhibit in a New England museum.

Faith Fairchild, wife to minister Tom, mom to Ben and Amy, owner of Have Faith catering and amateur sleuth in picturesque, old-moneyed Aleford, a suburb of Boston, agrees to take over the Ganley Art Museum café. Between courses, she’ll help her chum Patsy, a board trustee, discover who replaced the Romare Bearden painting with a copy. First, however, Faith, cleaning up after the catered opening of a controversial exhibition—a tiny goldfish swimming in a tank of water—finds the nude body of a bald girl floating in the tank. Who is she? No one admits to knowing her, although one member of the board wanted to marry her and several museum instructors used her as a model. Two out-of-the-blue calls to the cops identify her low-class midwestern origins—a far cry from the wealthy, artistic identity she fashioned for herself. Meanwhile, young Ben is causing problems at home and at school; Tom is fretting that Faith has become an absentee mom; and Faith, who saw no reason to tell the police about the forgeries, now realizes they may be connected to the murders. It’ll be many restorative coffee and cookie breaks later before Aleford residents can feel secure in their upper-class bubble once again.

Like all the Fairchild mysteries (The Body in the Ivy, 2006, etc.), this one is stronger on domesticity and culinary skills than on criminal behavior. The undemanding fare includes five recipes.