Sarah Kelling Bittersohn is not pleased when her cousin Percy and his wife Anne ask her to accompany them to a luncheon at the home of Percy’s clients, Elwyn Fleesom Turbot and his wife Lala. She is even less pleased when Turbot turns out to be the new head of the board of directors of the Wilkins Museum, particularly when he also turns out to be a bully who thinks he can browbeat Sarah into submission. However, when long-time employee of the Wilkins, Dolores Tawne, is murdered, Sarah begins to realize that her fit of pique with the Turbots is just the beginning of her troubles with the Turbots…. This eleventh novel in the Sarah Kelling series harks back to the third book, “The Palace Guard,” in which various shenanigans take place at the Wilkins Museum, and Sarah and Max are in the thick of it. There are nicely done digressions back to 1960s-era “happenings” in Boston here, complete with a mysterious group of women who sort of slither in and out of focus throughout, and, of course, some of Sarah’s many relatives put in their eccentric appearances here and there. Max is off in Argentina, though, and I missed his presence in this book. Overall, this is another charming piece of fiction with which to while away an afternoon; recommended! ( )

Sara Kelling in museum mystery again

Booklist Review: The latest in MacLeod's series of Sarah and Max Kelling mysteries more than meets the standards of her earlier works, filled as ever with touches of comedy, eccentric characters, and mild suspense, all in a neatly depicted Bostonian setting. Left on her own, while her art-detective spouse Max Kelling is in Argentina on a job, Sarah holds down the office, nearly gets herself killed, secures child care for her son (whose nurse is ill), probates an estate, and solves the murder of the woman who named Sarah her executor. Sarah is impressively competent, but she is aided by her houseman/butler Charles and a local police detective, both of whom are wise to the adventures that beset the Kelling family. MacLeod's tendency to restate the case, via Sarah updating relatives and police professionals, results in some unnecessary repetitions, but readers who like to solve the mystery before novel's end may find these summations desirable. ((Reviewed May 15, 1995)) -- Denise Perry Donavin ( )