Blowing Smoke - Robin Light, Bk 7 Author:Barbara Block In the seventh installment of Barbara Block's critically-acclaimed mystery series, private investigator Robin Light sets out to uncover the truth about an elderly heiress' connection to an enigmatic stranger who may -- or may not -- be communicating with the dead. With Syracuse suffocating under a shroud of relentless summer heat, Robin ... more »Light's exotic pet store business is slow -- and her semi-pro detective business is even slower. But Robin's seasonal tedium and her financial crisis are about to be remedied, thanks to a trio of adult siblings who are certain something sinister is simmering at their widowed mother's mansion.
Rose Taylor's children, Hillary, Louis and Amy, are convinced their inheritance is being squandered by their mother, whom they believe is the unwitting victim of a scam. The con woman in question: so-called pet psychic Pat Humphrey, who located Rose's supposedly kidnapped cat and won not just a substantial reward, but the woman's undying gratitude -- and a place in her will.
Assuming she's a fraud, Robin visits Humphrey, posing as a client seeking advice about her dog -- and comes away with startling evidence that the woman might just be the real thing. Then Pat Humphrey disappears -- just as the body of the Taylors' buxom maid is found floating in the swimming pool.
As the sizzling dog days unfold, Robin finds herself embroiled in a case that takes one shocking twist after another, as she tracks a cold-blooded killer.« less