A Quiet Death

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ReviewA cache of love letters lead to murder. When the D.C. Metro train she's riding in crashes, Hannah Ives (All Things Undying, 2010, etc.) winds up with a broken arm and a Garfinkel's shopping bag that belonged to the young man who had been sitting next to her. Feeling like a voyeur when she dips into the bag to see if she can identify the owner and return it, Hannah is soon immersed in a decades-old romance. Fifty-seven love letters and photographs document a 10-year affair between Lilith Chaloux and her married lover Zan. With gentle assists from her husband, her sister, her sister-in-law's husband (a Chesapeake County police lieutenant), internet searches and a snooping instinct second only to Miss Marple's, Hannah not only tracks down the reclusive Lilith, an artist and major-league hoarder, but stakes out the Lynx News headquarters to confront the man formerly known as Zan. In response, her home is burglarized, she's confronted by a seedy lawyer working for the young man who sat next to her on the train--now laid up for serious rehabbing in a D.C. hospital--and she meets Zan's wife, who tells her off in no uncertain terms. Meanwhile, a staffer at Lynx, a former college friend of Hannah's daughter Emily, is murdered, and the seedy lawyer heads for Lilith's cottage, which winds up ablaze, incinerating those 57 love letters and almost costing Lilith and Hannah their lives. If you've a taste for love denied, love reunited and coincidences piled on coincidences, you'll have plenty to swoon over here. -- Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2011Hannah Ives is returning home after a charity luncheon when her train crashes. Luckily, she escapes with minor bumps and bruises, but the man sitting next to her is critically injured, and Hannah does her best to comfort him. When she's released from the hospital, she's surprised to see, included in the personal items returned to her, the shopping bag the injured man was carrying. Hannah has no clue who he is or whether he survived, but she's determined to return the bag, especially after she opens it and finds a bundle of love letters charting the course of a decades-long affair between "Lilith" and "Zan." Hannah, intrigued by the letters, vows to learn more about the lovers. Her innocent investigation soon turns terrifying when Hannah's home is broken into, and someone seems to be stalking her, all of which serves only to make the secret behind the letters more compelling. A keep-'em-guessing plot, plenty of humor (despite the danger), and a whimsical, charming heroine make this one appealing on multiple levels. --Booklist, September 1, 2011 About the AuthorMarcia Talley is the author of five previous books featuring Hannah Ives. A winner of the Malice Domestic writing grant and an Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel, Ms. Talley won an Agatha and an Anthony Award for her short story "Too Many Cooks" and an Agatha Award for her short story "Driven to Distraction." She is the editor of two mystery collaborations, and her short stories have been published in numerous magazines and anthologies. She lives with her husband in Annapolis, Maryland.