Mallets Aforethought

Old Harlequin House is Eastport, Maine's most notorious landmark, once a hideout, hospital, and makeshift morgue for gangsters and their molls. Now Jake Tiptree and his friend Ellie White are refurbishing the mansion to host the local Historical Society's Memorial Day gala--until stripping old wallpaper in the parlor reveals a secret door to a room with a pair of corpses.

One of the bodies is a skeleton dressed in 1920s flap chic. But the other is that of a real-estate mogul with a chilling message pinned to his pocket: "Guilty." In between Ellie's Lamaze sessions, baby showers, and CPR classes, the two amateur sleuths sift their way through a trail of bafflingly contradictory clues.

Then another corpse with a note declaring him "Guilty" surfaces. Jake and Ellie must find a killer who's building an airtight case against Ellie's husband, George--and planning to nail everyone who stands in the way.