MURDER UNDER BLUE SKIES

Ever wondered what would happen if America's most beloved weathercaster retired to his Virginia hometown and opened a bed and breakfast? Glad you asked. You'd think it would be something of a problem for Stanley Waters when local Belinda Grimsby takes a header into the opening-night salsa that Stanley's peerless cook Caroline Caldwell serves to mark the festivities, and, sure, there are some awkward moments when the cameras covering the opening for Hello, World! capture Belinda's ex-beau Jim Nugent vainly administering CPR. But next day the local paper has a nice article on the Blue Skies Bed & Breakfast on the front page of the lifestyle section (all right, there's a sidebar on Belinda's death, and she does turn out to have been murdered), and Marilyn Tunney, the police chief who's sweet on Stanley—their decorous romance brings many a glow to the top of his balding dome—makes it clear that he's not a suspect to her. So he's free to hang around the beauty salon getting unnecessary haircuts and the antique shop listening for gossip, and to have at least one suspect try to kill him. Just the sort of mild, sunny whodunit you'd expect from celebrity weatherman Scott, who just happens to write exactly like his good-humored collaborator Crider (The Prairie Chicken Kill, 1996, etc.). (Mystery Guild selection)