North of Clever — Suzann Ledbetter

Just another homicide to spice things up

Life is anything but dull for Hannah Garvey, the resident manager for Valhalla Springs, an exclusive retirement community in the Ozarks. She's helped clear Sheriff David Hendrickson of a manslaughter charge, been caught almost in the act with said sheriff by his parents, and been recruited into bridesmaid duty for a shotgun wedding -- senior citizen style. Just a typical day in Sanity, Missouri.

Then the circus comes to town...and Hannah gets a visit from a man she never knew: her father. At least, that's who magician Reilly Boone claims to be. Reilly's overjoyed by the reunion -- until his lady illusionist wife, AnnaLeigh, catches a real bullet in the bullet-catch trick...and he's arrested for murder.

The show must go on

Circus folk stick by their own, and no one's talking. And with David and Hannah in the middle of their own three-ring circus of romance, secrets, and homicide, it's up to the gang of senior sleuths to get to the bottom of things under the big top.