Nora is a social reporter for the local paper.  Her current assignment is a memorial polo match for aging diva Penny Devine who has been missing for a year and is about to be declared dead by her brother Potty so the fighting over her estate can begin.  As the polo ponies create divots, a hand surfaces, one that could easily be that of Penny.  The questions abound even more than before.  Is Penny dead?  Did one of her siblings bump her off? Or was it the housekeeper’s daughter or her father? And who is Penny’s love child from forty years ago? And why does food critic Crewe Dearborne appear on the suspect list?  Nora and her sisters have an insiders view of all the suspects and can still hob knob with the best as they help detective Ben Bloom with the intricacies of the Philadelphia Main Line society.

The sixth book in the Blackbird Sisters series is the best by far.  Nora has become a very likable character in spite of all her zany eccentricities. She is the most stable of her sisters, new-aged Libby with the passel of kids and younger, wilder Emma who is very fond of her horses.  Nora is uncertain about her future with Michael because of his connected New Jersey family, but due to her own family circumstances it doesn’t seem as if it will make much difference as to her respectability.

Penny’s disappearance/murder is fun, as are the crazy suspects.  The possibility of an unclaimed child adds another layer to the mystery.  The mystery is reasonably easy to solve as all the pieces fall neatly into place, but the characters and settings are engaging enough to hold interest. The Blackbird Sisters continue to intrigue and appeal to a wide variety of readers.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry