Historically Dead by Greta McKennan

Daria is making historically correct gowns for two older ladies that competing to win the grand prize on a national TV show.  She's also doing the curtains and other sewing assignments as required.  The TV crew is a bit of a pain, but she keeps soldiering on and gets most of it all done.  All she has left are the curtains and a few more dresses.  When she goes in the office the researcher uses to ask about curtain patterns, she finds him dead on the floor.  She calls 911 and waits.  When she finds out he was hit in the head and it was not a natural death, it worries her.  No one was in the house who didn't belong.  Who killed him?

Lyrical Underground and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published December 19th.

This cozy mystery has one older lady who isn't quite all there and her sister, who seems to be made of steel.  There's a rumor that the more rigid one burned down her house and her husband both.  She doesn't regret his death.  It was arson, but did she do it?  She said she stayed in a local hotel because they had a fight.  Was that all she did? And then there's the boy that disappeared years ago.  No one ever proved him dead and his fluffy aunt still thinks he'll return.

Daria finds out the researcher had a secret he was going to reveal and it would expose the local hero as a traitor.  His assistant knows this secret, too, and she begs him to stay safe.  Then her newspaper reporter she's fond of disappears along with the assistant and she's afraid they are dead.

The story is busy, has lots of action, and ends violently.  This one won't bore you.