Murder Unrenovated — P.M. Carlson

Realtor Len Trager is anxious to sell the brownstone in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood, but prospective buyers don't want to deal with Julia Northrup, who rents the basement apartment. Maggie Ryan and her husband Nick O'Connor love the property. They see though Julia's act, and they're not scared off by the corpse on the top floor.This Mystery Company edition restores to print the fourth novel in the Maggie Ryan series, a 1989 nominee for Macavity and Anthony Awards.Carlson has put it all together wonderfully in this book: terrific characters, funny incidents, genuine suspense, and an absolutely right sense of period and place. If comparisons were in order, we'd say Maggie and Nick are as memorable a sleuthing team as Nick and Nora Charles or Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane – but there's no need to make comparisons. The series stands quite admirably on its own. – Tom & Enid Schantz, The Purloined Letter