MAKING FRIENDS CAN BE MURDER

A group of friends who share the same name shifts gears to solve the murder of one of their own.

Even though she was warned by Brian, her ex-fiancé, that it would take ages for her to find a new community when she moved from Vermont to Minneapolis after dumping him, Sarah Jones has discovered a group of friends she fits in with perfectly, and not just because they’re being Minnesota nice. Her new buddies haven’t sought out Sarah because of her skills as a personal trainer—she’s the new director at LifeSport Fitness—but because of her name. The robust group of friends all share a common moniker, whose cultural frequency has led to shared lifetimes of misdirected mail and emails, and now is the common denominator in the social group dubbed “The Sarah Jones Project.” The group’s members range in age from a boisterous, troublemaking 17 to a very determined 69. Each of the Sarah Joneses is nicknamed with her age in order to differentiate group members, something that’s especially helpful when they’re all on the same text chain. The newest Sarah Jones, aka Thirty, hits it off immediately with Twenty-Seven, and is particularly relieved that Twenty-Seven is okay after hearing the news that a local Sarah Jones has been murdered. As the group resolves to unravel the mystery of what’s happened to their fallen member, Thirty is the obvious person to lead the charge because of the interest of a new FBI agent who seems to want to help her.

Variations on a theme that works a lot better at the beginning.