Faux Finish — Kathleen Newberg

Molly May had had more than her share of challenges in her life: when she was thirteen, her mother died, leaving her with most of the household chores for her father and her two brothers. When her father died and her brothers moved away, she hired a hand to help her run the farm. With time, it just made sense for them to get married; they had little social interaction with others anyway. Then her middle-aged husband had a stroke, leaving him paralyzed and her to take care of him until he died. She gave up the farm, or lost it, rather, and took the only job she could find, one that few people wanted, as a prison guard. She was accustomed to hard work, long hours, and difficulties of all sorts, so she excelled at the guard job just as she had at everything she had tried. Eventually her hard work and determination got noticed, and she got promoted, finally to the position of Chief of Investigations at the Columbia Police Department. She was frugal, saved her money, and retired early to seek the quiet peaceful life she had wanted for so long. But she didn't get it.

After retiring from her position as Chief of the Police Investigations Unit in Columbia, SC, Molly May returns to her native North Carolina in search of a quiet life. In no time at all, just before Christmas, her quiet town of Higgins Grove confronts its first murder in decades. Molly is drawn into the case by a long-lost relative of the victim and by her inability to leave a puzzle unsolved. This is an old-time cozy detection novel with many clues, many suspects, and a surprise ending. As Agatha Christie said, "Very few of us are what we seem."