No Way to Kill a Ladyby Nancy Martin
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780451237057
Series: Blackbird Sisters #8
Publication Date: August 6, 2012
Pages: 310
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Obsidian
Great-aunt Madeleine Blackbird has died in a volcanic eruption on an Indonesian island and left her fabulous Bucks County estate to the three Blackbird sisters. But when Nora and her scandal-ridden sisters, Libby and Emma, go to claim their windfall, they find the house in decay and all of their aunt’s to-die-for treasures gone. They also find a woman’s body….
Nora feels compelled to seek out the truth, but even with help from her mobster boyfriend, Mick Abruzzo, who provides distractions both dark and delightful, solving this case proves challenging. Relatives are circling to claim a share of Madeleine’s property, the suspect list is growing, and Nora’s wild and wacky sisters are adding one surprise after another. It’s enough to put Nora’s couture undies in a serious twist!
I love this series and I was thrilled to see No Way to Kill a Lady published – I had thought Ms. Martin had killed the series with the last book.
The crazy sisters are back and as nuttier as ever, with Nora starting to embrace the dark side just a teeny tiny bit – only for a greater good, of course. The mystery surrounding the death of their great-aunt had an interesting cast of suspects, although not nearly so interesting as the life Aunt Madeline lived. A very short list of suspects meant that the ‘reveal’ at the end wasn’t shocking, but also wasn’t obvious.
I am happy to see that in this book, Michael finally pulled his head out of his nether regions and revealed a bit of the mystery that he is, as his refusal to share anything in previous books was wearing thin.
I genuinely hope to see more of Nora Blackbird in many future books – it’s truly one of my all-time favorite series, and with No Way to Kill a Lady, Ms. Martin has shown that she and Nora still have plenty of tales to tell.