In A Misty Mourning, a very pregnant Torie is traveling with her grandmother Gert to West Virginia for the reading of family friend Clarissa Hart’s will. Certainly not an unusual event, except that quirky one-hundred-one-year-old Clarissa is still very much alive.

This situation abruptly changes once Torie and Gert arrive at Clarissa’s Panther Run Boardinghouse deep in the mountains. They’re only there a few hours when Clarissa is discovered murdered in her bed. Unfortunately, Torie is found standing over the body with a pillow in her hands.

Things don’t look good for Torie, even if she didn’t smother the old woman. It seems Clarissa had recently changed her will, leaving the boardinghouse to Torie. This little fact does not go over particularly well with Clarissa’s family, who has gathered for the reading of the will.

It is rumored that the boardinghouse is cursed. All who have owned it have been plagued with bad luck. It’s beginning to look as if Torie will be the next owner afflicted by the curse, unless she can discover who really murdered Clarissa Hart.

As in previous books, Torie brings her skill with genealogy into the investigation. She’s certain that a lynching on the property in the early 1900's is connected in some way to the current events. Readers interested in genealogy will particularly enjoy following Torie as she delves into the past to solve today’s mystery.

I can’t remember the last time I read a mystery featuring a pregnant sleuth and it was great fun to watch as Torie lumbered through the investigation. Insomnia and frequent bathroom visits may have slowed her down a bit, but she perseveres until the nail-biting conclusion.

If I have one small complaint, it’s that we spend next to no time with Torie’s family. I missed the interaction between Torie and her wheelchair-bound mom, who will soon be marrying Torie’s sometime nemesis, Sheriff Colin Brooke. Torie’s young daughters, Mary and Rachel, and especially husband Rudy, only make cameo appearances here. It’s family, both past and present, that make this such an appealing series.

Fortunately, it looks as if Torie’s back in the arms of her family for the next book, with a new baby and her mom’s wedding to keep her occupied. At least temporarily. I somehow doubt even all that domestic upheaval will stop this sleuth from jumping in when there’s a mystery to solve. I can hardly wait.

--Karen Lynch