The Crime and the Crystal — E.X. Ferrars / Elizabeth Ferrars

A retired professor finds that an amateur sleuth's work is never done, even on an Australian holiday in this cozy mystery with “a dandy plot” (Publishers Weekly).

Andrew Basnett takes a break from his little English village to spend Christmas in the small Australia city of Adelaide. Visiting Tony, an old colleague with a newish wife, Basnett soon learns that a cloud hangs over the marriage. Jan, Tony's bride, is widely believed to have murdered her first husband -- a fact that is giving Tony second thoughts.

Things don't get any more comfortable when, at a family dinner, one of the guests is killed with a chunk of the same crystal that had been Jan's alleged murder weapon. And Jan herself has disappeared. Now it's up to Professor Basnett to make the truth crystal clear.