A Small Hill to Die On

August 20, 2012
In Duncan's solid if unsurprising fourth cozy featuring nail salon owner Penny Brannigan (after 2011's A Killer's Christmas in Wales), Mai Grimstead, the owner of Nailz, a chain of nail bars and tanning salons, has just moved to Llanelen, Wales. Mai courteously stops by Penny's shop to inform her that she will soon have competition. But Nailz's new branch draws few customers, so why is its cash-deposit bag, which Penny spots one day at the bank, so much larger than her own? Meanwhile, Mai's children are unhappy in their new home, and one of these, her 19-year-old daughter, is displaying signs of an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. When Penny stumbles on a corpse during a walk and realizes that the female victim was a customer, she once again turns sleuth, though her detective work does little to distinguish her from countless other curious, well-intentioned amateurs. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary.

September 15, 2012
A mercantile rivalry turns murderous for Canadian expat Penny Brannigan. Penny and her partner Victoria, who own a popular spa, are a bit nervous when a chain of nail and tan salons extends its reach to Llanelen, the Welsh town where they've long been settled. Mai Grimstead, an English-born ethnic Vietnamese married to an Englishman, is the chain owner who has recently leased, with the option to buy, Ty Brith Hall, a large estate outside town. Mai's Birmingham-raised daughter Ashlee, 19, and her younger brother Tyler are not happy with moving so far from a proper city. Penny and a friend are out on a sketching trip when Penny's dog finds Ashlee's viciously beaten body. Although Mai claims that Ashlee had no boyfriends, she was pregnant. Her murder poses a difficult problem for Penny's boyfriend, DI Gareth Davies. Penny, eager to help him, asks Victoria to pose as a housecleaner and go undercover at Ty Brith to see what she can find out. In the meantime, someone has been stealing small dogs. Penny is furious when her friend's little terrier goes missing and adds dognapping to her investigative list. She does not realize that she is putting herself in mortal danger when what seems like a simple case of murder takes some unexpected turns. Although its mystery isn't the best among Duncan's Welsh cozies (A Killer's Christmas in Wales, 2011, etc.), this latest entry provides flashes of local color and the usual likable characters.

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November 1, 2012

The bucolic Welsh countryside is marred by the discovery of a dead pregnant teen on a hill. Soon salon owner Penny and her village colleagues find motives worth sharing with the authorities in her fourth cozy outing (after A Killer's Christmas in Wales).

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2012
Transplanted American Penny Brannigan's spa and nail salon in small-town Llanelen, Wales, is about to receive some competition from Mai Grimstead, one of the new owners of Ty Brith Hall, who is opening a tanning salon that will also offer manicures. While Penny is on a painting jaunt, her dog finds the body of Mai's 19-year-old daughter, Ashlee. Although Penny promises her boyfriend, Detective Chief Inspector Gareth Davies, that she will stay out of the investigation, she is drawn into it as she begins to believe something strange is going on at Ty Brith Hall. To ferret out the Grimsteads' secrets, Penny's business partner, Victoria, agrees to go undercover as a cleaning woman at the hall. Meanwhile, small dogs are disappearing from Llanelen, and an eccentric woman and her brother may lead to the resolution of a long-ago murder. When Penny's snooping almost leads to her death, Davies must rush to save her in this satisfying addition to an entertaining cozy series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)