January 1, 1988
As funny and exciting as The Palace Guard and The Bilbao Looking Glass, MacLeod's new novel features Sarah and Max Bittersohn sleuthing again. Sarah's Brahmin but rather improper Bostonian kin, the Kellings, ask for the couple's help when Dolph and Mary Kelling's Senior Citizens' Recycling Center is in danger. One of the street people supported by the Center is killed and scandal threatens when Max finds heroin in the victim's distinctive tote bag, which has been provided by the Kellings for the cans that the elderly collect for recycling. There is a hilarious scene as Max and Sarah (now heavily pregnant) join gypsy cousin Theonia and other relatives, all in disguise, as they in spy on suspects in the Boston Public Gardens. Later, the villain strikes again, at an auction to benefit the center, and Max, using the skills he acquired as a detective specializing in art frauds, solves the two cases conclusively. In a double climax, Sarah gives birth to David Josiah Kelling Bittersohn.