Cirak's Daughter — Charlotte MacLeod

A young woman investigates the death of her wealthy, estranged father in a small Rhode Island town in this novel by the author of the Peter Shandy Mysteries. -- Murder can happen anywhere, even in sleepy Meldrum, Rhode Island. And while the town's old-money families may prefer to sweep such unseemliness under their Oriental rugs, its newest resident can think of nothing else. Nineteen-year-old Jenny Cirak has moved into the house her father, a once-famous movie producer, willed to her. She's also using an assumed name, just like he did when he lived -- and died -- in Meldrum. But why did he leave a fortune to the child he abandoned . . . and what really killed him?

Hoping to make sense of the father she never knew, Jenny must get to know his neighbors and expose their secrets and feuds. Somewhere among this cast of characters, which includes a retired corporate accountant from Baltimore who shows up on her doorstep with a clue, is a person who knows the truth -- and will do anything to keep Cirak's daughter from uncovering it.