All I recall about this is that it involves both a real c.o.d. package and (as a joke) a fish --a criminal "cod" ( )

My first exposure to Asey Mayo was via three novellas, and I was intrigued. I was interested to see how Taylor's mysteries worked in novel format, and am happy to report that she maintains her style of intricate conundrums and dead pan humor. Asey Mayo is a new detective in my list of favorite sleuths, and so very different from most of them. He is a combination of small town and big city, a man who likes simple things but is well-off, shrewd, and comfortable in practicing deception to find a murderer. He likes feeding his suspects just a little information, and holding the important pieces back, to let them hang themselves.

What draws me to embrace this series as one that I plan to read consistently is the mystery itself. Taylor creates these elaborate premises that always baffle me. Yes, they involve dead bodies, as all murder mysteries do, but the elements that surround them are original. In this story, Jane Lennox discovers a dead body, but when she and Asey Mayo go back to find it, it's gone. Mayo think she is mistaken, but when her mother's pet political project - Homer - winds up missing, Mayo is convinced. Until Homer shows up shouting accusations that Jane's family tried to kidnap him and ruin his political chances. Just when it seems the dust will settle, Homer winds up dead, really dead this time. To complicate the situation more, Mayo believes that Jane discovered a dead woman's body that night.

See what I am talking about? That takes a dead body and adds a lot of layers of misdirection. I've read many mystery books - more than some, but less than others, so I'm not calling myself an expert, just a fan - and when an author can throw a real puzzler at me, I like it. Also, Taylor never pulls any tricks like withholding crucial evidence until the end. We have all the clues as accessible to us as to the characters in the book, but perhaps not the clever insight of Asey Mayo to put them all together. I did not foresee the solution ahead of time, and was extremely satisfied by how all the threads were pulled together in the end. I continue to enjoy Taylor's mystery offerings, and look forward to more. ( )