Mrs Pargeter's Public Relations by Simon Brett

Mrs. Pargeter's husband has been dead for a number of years now but she will let no one say anything bad about him.  He was a wonderful provider, left her plenty of money and a little black book that has all his old contacts on it.  She uses them to help her through life now.  One drives her, one is detective and there are all kinds of other skills within the black book.  She even got one to make her safe secure.  But evil doesn't go away just because you're prepared...

Severn House and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published April 1st.

It's when Mrs. Pargeter goes to a charity event for cats that she meets a woman who says she's her dead husband's sister.  She'd never heard of her before, doesn't like her much, and avoids her at the event.  However, she calls again.  She thinks she's owed something from the estate.  Mrs. Pargeter tells her to put it in writing and she'll discuss it with her attorney.  She thinks she's taken care of that but then she finds her failsafe safe that only opens with her fingerprint ID has been opened and her black book is missing.  She calls the detective and they go off on the hunt.

The trail goes to Greece and so do they.  But it's a dangerous place to be.  Everyone is related and they're all part of a conspiracy.  The facts get muddled the further they go.  And Mrs. Pargeter's husband was not the most honest and perfect gentleman in the world but she won't hear of it.  She's going to protect his reputation and work with his friends to do so.

This story is a bit tongue-in-cheek but I really enjoyed it.  Mrs. Pargeter is not as dense as she appears because she comes up with a way to nip the trouble in the bud.  You need to be careful around old ladies.  They may not be what they seem to be...