by Jean Little
First published 2010
Harry Haristeen faces trouble at what should be a celebration. Her sharp-tongued Aunt Tally is turning one hundred, and the alumnae association plans a major fundraiser in her honor to recover money lost in the economic downturn. A brewing blizzard threatens the event, but worse problems emerge when board member Mariah D'Angelo vanishes after making suspicious financial moves. Mariah withdrew and replaced $25,000 from the association's accounts before disappearing. Her abandoned car sits on campus while her corgi Tucker discovers human blood near the stables. Harry and her detective cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter must determine whether Mariah's disappearance connects to her questionable political donations, her feud with fellow board member Flo Langston, or a forty-year-old unsolved death tied to Aunt Tally's past. The investigation becomes urgent as the killer threatens to claim more victims at the centennial celebration.
Genres: fiction, mystery, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-detective, found-family
Setting: Campus
Period: Centennial Celebration
240 pages · Hardcover · Bantam