Little Black Book of Murder

June 24, 2013
Martin’s enjoyable ninth Blackbird Sisters mystery (after 2012’s No Way to Kill a Lady) finds Libby pushing her 13-year-old twins, Harcourt and Hilton, into an acting career; Emma pumping milk for the baby she gave up to her lover and his wife; and Nora trying to maintain her job as society reporter at the Philadelphia Intelligencer. Nora attends a party hosted by wealthy Swain Starr and his new wife, Zephyr, at his state-of-the-art farm, where Swain’s first wife, Marybeth, pokes an antique musket at him and yells about a prize pig. Later, Nora discovers Swain dead in his barn. Nora is torn between her boss’s urging to use her connections to scoop the police on the story; protecting her nephew Rawlins, whose keys she found near the body; and worrying about pet pig Ralphie, who’s at risk from Marybeth’s chef brother. Despite the large cast, Martin keeps the story tight as she smoothly weaves together Blackbird and Starr family dramas. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency.

July 1, 2013
A new boss spells trouble for socialite-turned-reporter Nora Blackbird (No Way to Kill a Lady, 2012, etc.). Aussie expatriate Gus Hardwicke knows how to sell papers. He's turning the Philadelphia Intelligencer into a National Inquirer wannabe, dragging the names of Philly's rich and famous through the mud. And he wants help from Nora Blackbird, whose blue-blood lineage gives her access to all those A-listers. At first, she's willing to probe the stabbing of 60-something fashion designer Swain Starr on the farm he and his second wife, a supermodel named Zephyr, hoped to make a model of organics. After all, Nora's sister Libby's eldest, Rawlins, is questioned by the police just because his abandoned car has been found near the crime scene. But Nora soon learns the social consequences of her snoop-and-tell. She also learns that Gus' interest in her is not entirely platonic. It's not clear why the hunky Australian would mess with someone who shares a bed with mobbed-up Michael Abruzzo, but mess with Nora he does. And Gus' advances are one more mess Nora definitely does not need, distracted as she is by caring for her gracious but decaying family farm, riding herd on her two ditzy sisters and, of course, trying to locate her lost pig, Ralphie. It takes a night in the slammer, a barn fire and the appearance at Blackbird Farm of Noah, the infant Nora thought her sister, Emma, gave up for adoption, to solidify Nora's position as Philadelphia's patron saint of lost causes. Martin's ninth Blackbird sisters entry pushes the envelope over a cliff.

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August 1, 2013
Nora Blackbird, society columnist for the Philadelphia Intelligencer, is worried about her job. Her new editor, Gus Hardwicke, wants to sell newspapers by turning the Intelligencer into a tabloid, and Nora is against using her friends and contacts to write the salacious stories he wants to print. To complicate matters, her younger sister, Emma, is acting strangely; Nora's boyfriend, Mob-connected Michael Abruzzo, is going stir-crazy under house arrest; and their pet pig goes missing. When fashion designer Swain Starr is murdered with a pitchfork, Nora investigates to help clear her nephew Rawlins and to gather facts for a story. Suspects also include Starr's much younger supermodel wife, his spurned ex-wife, and the children who will inherit his empire. With New Jersey wiseguys gathering at the farm to protect them, Nora wonders what Michael is currently involved in, but her issues with her sisters, her harassing boss, and their lack of money keep her busy. Sympathetic, well-drawn characters; plot twists; humor; and the interesting relationship between Michael and Nora keep the pages turning.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)