AN INTIMATE MURDER by STACY VERDICK CASE

Catherine O'Brien and her partner Louise Montgomery are the bickering, immensely funny feature characters in this series.  They are police department detectives in St. Paul, MN but this reminds me of cozy set in London with the odd characters and the plot.  Catherine is married and thankfully has a patient and loving husband who only gets upset at her long hours on the job when she's in danger.  Louise is beautiful, enough so to distract both other cops and witnesses, but she's the one who is calm and tactful.

In this story a couple have been murdered in their own home and their college age son came home to find them dead.  A neighbor is looking after him until relatives can take him away from the scene.  The wife was stabbed in the living room but strangely enough the husband was shot in the attic where he kept his prized train sets.  No defensive wounds on either.  Then there is a crazy niece and a suspicious looking sister and brother-in-law.  Inherited money is an issue and there is the matter of the death of a wealthy grandmother in upstate Minnesota several years earlier.  

Neighbors they question are hilarious, for instance the one who thinks she's cracked the case but gives them such a vague description of the car she saw that it could be any car in town. She claims not to be nosy but has binoculars on the windowsill and knows everything about everyone on the block.  We all know the type and that's what makes it so funny.  They have the usual problems with the media too which is a hindrance. 

Reading any book in this series is like settling down with old friends who tell great stories.  I know I'll have a good time when the author is Stacy Verdick Case.  If you aren't already a fan, you will be if you read An Intimate Murder.

Highly recommended
Source:  Author via Netgalley