A Case of Bier by Mary Daheim

Judith and her husband run a bed and breakfast.  When Joe offers to take her on vacation for a few days, she's thrilled.  It gets even better when Renie(her cousin) and her husband Bill join them.  She didn't envision being a fishing widow but they need a guide to get more fish and go out in the field with him.  The two women plan to shop, see the sights and relax.  It'd be a lot more relaxing if she didn't find a dead body on almost the first day there...

William Morrow and Edelweiss let me read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published February 12th.

She had been told he went there to die but he was stabbed.  Then his body disappears.  So does the bier he wanted to be sent down the river on.  She thinks the relatives did it and then got rid of the body.  That's partly true but there's a lot more to it.

They find the body in the woods in another day or so but when they try to show the cops, it's missing again.

In time, they begin to wonder if it was really that older brother as they were told.  But if it wasn't, who was it?

The fun part is that they make up stories as they go along.  One time Judith is a journalist, the next time she's acting like part of the family.  She does what it takes to sort out the facts.  She's also surprised by the killer...