review: death al fresco by leslie karst

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After her last murder mystery experience, Sally Solari is focusing on her restaurant and trying her hand at hand at painting (the restaurant is named for a painter). But Death al Fresco wouldn't be a Sally Solari mystery if she didn't happen upon a body. This time it's a man who was a regular at her father's restaurant. At first it appears Gino fell into the water and drowned because he was drunk--possibly overserved at Solari's. That's enough to prompt Sally to look into his death which she finds suspicious because she's sure Gino wasn't overserved. There's a good suspect list and enough going on to get the plot moving at a good pace, but the killer's motive is a bit weak once it's all revealed. And although Sally wisely handles the protestors (her father didn't listen when she warned against a Columbus Day celebration), she doesn't seem to have learned from her previous investigations how to have a soft touch with people she's trying to get information from.
4/5
Review copy provided by the publicist, MM Book Publicity.