by Lynne Truss
First published 2020
Constance Carmichael expected her retirement to bring peaceful mornings and freedom from deadlines. Instead, her quiet town becomes a crime scene where bodies pile up with one strange constant: each victim dies in connection with an antique milk bottle. The local police hit dead ends at every turn. Constance cannot ignore the pattern others miss, so she begins her own investigation. She encounters eccentric townspeople and follows misleading evidence that circles back to nothing. The murderer kills again while Constance races against time to crack the cryptic method behind the deaths. The crimes appear random and senseless, but she believes crucial details hide in plain sight. Constance partners with unexpected allies who notice what trained investigators overlook. Together they hunt a killer whose motives prove as peculiar as the vintage dairy containers used as murder weapons. The answer waits in the overlooked fragments that only Constance can piece together.
Genres: mystery, contemporary, thriller, cozy-mystery
Vibes: atmospheric, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-detective, eccentric-characters, overlooked-clues
Setting: Town
Period: Contemporary
320 pages · Hardcover · Bloomsbury Publishing