The strength of this mystery is in the portrayal of the characters, who have notable dysfunctions both as individuals and collectively as family. I will not spoil the mystery by saying that the motive for the murders is avarice and greed. The surprise comes in the way that degrees of family relationship channel that greed.

My insight on reading this is a personal one – that I don’t really care for the “cozy” format, wherein the inspector assembles the defined group of suspects and narrates the solution. (I prefer the alternative, as in Hillerman novels, where the mystery is resolved through the action of the characters, at least one of whom is on the investigative side). Be that as it may, I found Death of a Cozy Writer to be better than the usual of this genre.