MURDER AT THE PTA

An unlikely team tracks down the killer of an online scandalmonger.

Nobody knows better than PTA president Sandra Wallage how miserable internet trolls can make your life. Ever since the website Dirty Laundry posted a story about how her husband, Stephen, one of Maine’s U.S. senators, used taxpayer money to hush up a sex scandal, she’s been afraid to show her face at South Portland High School, where her older son, Jack, is a football star and her younger son, Ryan, is trying out for the school musical. But the PTA needs her, so she bravely leads the next meeting—which ends in a brawl fueled by a torrent of additional rumors pouring out of Dirty Laundry’s dirty mouth. Joined by Maya Kendrick, a private investigator who wouldn’t be caught dead at a PTA meeting if she hadn’t been hired to find out who’s behind the nasty website, Sandra rushes to find Maisie Portman. But their hopes that the assistant principal can help restore order are dashed when they find her dead in her office, an apparent suicide. Maisie’s sister, who thinks that Maisie was murdered, hires Maya to prove it. And the last thing the tough ex-cop wants is help from Sandra. But PTA presidents are nothing if not persistent. Besides, Maya’s regular partner is eight months pregnant and on reduced hours. As the two become a team, spicy Maya and sturdy Sandra discover a mutual respect that surprises them both and should delight fans of Maine stalwart Hollis (Death of a Wedding Cake Baker, 2019, etc.).

Cozy goes hard-boiled.