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by K. B. Pellegrino (Author)
In this cozy mystery, Major Crimes Unit Rudy Beauregard is frustrated and suffering at the specter of investigative loss of control. Called to an assault of an unknown man, who is later identified as a well-known Atlanta Attorney Jed Mattias, the Captain meets citizen Beryl Kent on whose property Jed is found bleeding profusely from his chest. The lady Beryl is run down by the bleeding man who falls on her. She is now a witness and in her mind a victim of someone's devious deeds, leaving Mattias under her protection. Beauregard is impatient with her nosiness in what is a police matter. He and his detectives agree; Beryl is a most intrusive citizen. On her own dime, Beryl flies out to Austin, Texas to locate Mattias' daughter who is missing.
Within a day, the West Side detectives investigate a two-person fatality car accident. Suspicions mount. It is not an accident. The location of the accident raises speculations since another car and truck are involved. The trucker insists he was not at fault and brings in, to Beauregard's chagrin, noted defense counsel Norberto Cull. Cull and Beauregard have history, often on opposite sides of legal issues leaving Beauregard regularly reminding the illustrious attorney where the line is in police matters. COVID-19 issues and Beauregard's own auto accident leaving him with a severe leg injury create additional havoc in what is now three investigations, two of which are murder. Two additional attempts are made to kill the almost comatose Mattias while he is in the hospital and at Beryl's guarded home. It is not too long before Beauregard gets insight into the bigger picture with Beryl's assistance. Is this all part of a money-laundering scheme including art theft?
Beryl, first, and then the detectives, visit her neighbors on the hill, who hopefully with their birds-eye view of her home, have information on the first assault. One neighbor is retired Colonel Nathan Connault. The Colonel gives Beryl inside information. She shares the info with the Captain, who now is recuperating from his injuries and annoyed to be one-upped by her. Since she was sworn to secrecy, Beryl will not reveal her source.
The Christmas season brings Beryl's adult children to town who have their own interest in protecting her. Beryl's son Oliver does some run-downs on the Colonel, who clearly in Oliver's mind, has a personal interest in his mother other than in the investigations. Beryl he feels, as a three-time widow, needs protection from romance.
Beryl truly hopes the Colonel is legitimate. Her lifetime relational experiences have made her deeply suspicious and at times cynical. The discovery that Jed Mattias' law partner was killed in an unusual accident creates additional questions. With both senior partners of the elite Georgia law firm out of commission, police hope that junior and managing partner Grace Grantley's offer of Jed's diary for the previous weeks before his assault will assist in recalling Jed's lost memory. A non-profit Georgia entrepreneurial scam surfaces with links to western Massachusetts and a French art dealer who is Beryl's neighbor on the hill. The plot and characters are diverse. Beauregard with reluctance uses his team, Beryl Kent, Norbie Cull, and the Colonel to bring about solving the money laundering, attempts at murder, and multiple murder cases using a concert of their skills. An in-depth review of Grace Grantley's personal history highlights her as the hub in the multiple spokes of murder, assault, art theft, and money laundering. She is a sociopath who has married one sociopath and met another, but as in the animal world, she is the alpha dog. Beauregard uses the cohesive interplay of citizens as sleuths to again solve major crimes before the FEDS take over his assault and attempted murder case. He sincerely wishes Beryl Kent will stay out of his business in the future.
