Christietown

If there ever was a Cotswold-cozy development called Christietown, I'd be the first to sign up. In Christietown by Susan Kandel, the development comes to life, complete with a play featuring Miss Marple for the Grand Opening.

CeCe Caruso is moonlighting as an event planner for Ian Christie, the developer of Christietown who claims to be a distance relative of Dame Agatha. In keeping with the Christie theme, he asks Cece to produce a play featuring amateur actors in typical English village roles.

Cece has her hands full already. She is rewriting a portion of her Agatha Christie biography adding more information about the 11-day disappearance of the famous novelist, producing the play, getting married and awaiting the birth of her first grandchild. To add to the drama, her ex-husband, his fiancee and her mother turn up at her door. 

But more drama awaits as on the play's opening day, Liz Berman, the person cast as Miss Marple,

disappears. Cece jumps in to save the play, but soon finds her cast member dead. As she delves into the mystery, she discovers all is not what it seems at Christietown. Ruthless developers alleged to be former members of Mosad are pressuring Ian to keep selling the lots and houses.

As Cece digs more deeply, she discovers, just like Jack Nicholson in Chinatown, "It's all about the water." Without water, the land would be worthless. Cece wonders whether Liz had inadvertently discovered something while she was researching her part.

In the secondary plot, Cece provides the reader with excerpts from her Christie biography covering the 11-day disappearance. In these segments we learn some interesting and little known facts about the mystery author's case of amnesia and what her note to Archie Christie may have said.

I very much enjoyed Christietown especially as I am huge, huge Agatha Christie fan. The interspersed portions of Cece's biography were delightful.