The Corpse Wore Gingham — Ed Lynskey

Piper and Bill Robins, a retired married couple, are enjoying their leisure years spent in the tranquil, leafy Washington, D.C. suburb of Beverly Park, Virginia. Bill watches “Pawn Stars” on TV and mows his lawn while Piper shops for clothes and solves crossword puzzles. One sunny June afternoon, Emily Davenport, who lives in California, telephones Bill and asks if he'll check on her elderly mother Anna living next door to the Robinses. She hasn't answered Emily's repeated attempts to call. After Bill and Piper go over, they discover Anna lies murdered in her bed. The only found clue is her bloodstained gingham bathrobe. Appalled and even more outraged, Piper persuades Bill to become wife-and-husband amateur sleuths, and they set out to find Anna's killer. Meantime, Bill's younger sister Noreen, a retired CPA, joins the Robinses' investigation. She taps her ex-cop boyfriend Rick Novak and her mysterious, opinionated tuxedo tomcat Snoozy Q for support. While the city homicide detectives run their official investigation, the skillful snoops Piper, Bill, and Noreen train their sights on four murder suspects. Besides a clean read and fair play modern “whodunit” mystery, The Corpse Wore Gingham offers cozy mystery fans likeable protagonists, good-natured humor, and a lively pace.