SELL LOW, SWEET HARRIET

A winter garage sale provokes cold chills in the manager, who’s also grappling with a murder.

Sarah Winston, who divorced her husband but stayed in the Massachusetts town near the Air Force base of their last posting, attends the funeral of Alicia Arbas, an officer’s wife found dead on the base, possibly murdered with a large chunk of ice. Knowing that Sarah has many friends on base and a nose for murder (Let’s Fake a Deal, 2019, etc.), Special Agent Frank Bristow and local police officer Scott Pellner ask her to keep her ears open for gossip. In fact, she goes much further, and her curiosity soon involves her in a potentially dangerous situation. Sarah’s also been hired by Jeannette Blevins to price and sell the contents of her parents’ home after they were killed in an accident in Senegal. The house is packed to the rafters with items from all over the world that the parents, who were CIA agents, had collected. Sarah’s boyfriend, local district attorney Seth Anderson, is unhappy to hear that Sarah’s involved in yet another murder case, but she soldiers on with both her time-consuming projects. Shortly after Jeannette’s brother, Troy, shows up saying he wants to make sure he hasn't left behind anything he wants from his parents' collection, he’s attacked in another room. When she comes to the hospital to visit him, Jeannette says that he’s not her brother, and the imposter declines to stick around to explain himself. Although there are plenty of valuable items in the house, no one knows which of them the man was looking for. Back on base, Sarah hears scads of gossip about Alicia Arbas. The officers’ jealous wives, who’ve spread wildly varying stories, resent Sarah’s questions. Now she’s in danger from both a killer and a thief unless she can solve both cases.

Canny hints for garage-sale success blend nicely with two difficult mysteries for the intrepid heroine to unravel.