OUT OF TUNE

A musical prodigy, Alicia, goes missing and turns up murdered in this latest Riley Donovan mystery from prolific McClintock.

Red herrings are distributed carefully, as are possible suspects, as Riley uses her guardian aunt’s position in the local police force as well as gossip, mostly from annoyingly whiny friend Ashleigh, to investigate. After previous outings, Riley is an experienced solver of mysteries and is approached to clear an acquaintance who is suspected of having committed the crime. Moorebridge is a small Canadian town with a largely white population where most everybody has heard of one another even if they don’t know them personally. The threads of the mystery eventually lead Riley to discover the perpetrator and to find a solution that, of course, puts her in danger. The key to the plot (both the novel’s and the crime) is the tremendous pressure and competition endemic to the world of gifted musicians. And this small community has three! The swift pace and Riley’s straightforward narration make this accessible, and low but not absent levels of gore and violence keep pages turning.

A solid whodunit.