What's the proper way for a Boston landlady to react when her most obnoxious boarder gets squashed by a subway train? Sarah Kelling doesn't mind losing Barnwell Augustus Quiffen. She already has a far nicer applicant for the drawing room suite, now that money problems have forced her to turn her historic brownstone into a boarding house. And curmudgeonly old Mr. Quiffen had been a mistake from the first with his quarrels, complaints, and endless nosey-parkering.
But then an odd eyewitness shows up on her doorstep, insisting somebody pushed Mr. Quiffen under the train, and Sarah finds herself knee-deep in yet another mystery. This time, though, Sarah needn't face her problem alone -- not while she can rely on her basement boarder: Max Bittersohn, an art expert with a very special sort of expertise....
One of the earlier Kelling/Bittersohn outings, before Max and Sarah were married. Sarah has an interesting time opening her boarding house. Of course, the murder of two residents doesn't help much. The usual MacLeod witty dialog and humor; always enjoyable.