Partners In Crime

In this first of the Hubbert & Lil "cozy with an edge" mystery series, written by Katy Munger using the pen name Gallagher Gray, Auntie Lil and T.S. Hubbert investigate the death of a very proper partner at a private Wall Street bank -- the very bank where T.S. used to work. On his first day of early retirement, T.S. is ordered back to work pronto to find out who would have the nerve to invade Sterling & Sterling's hallowed halls with murder in mind. Auntie Lil smells a mystery and promptly butts in, despite T.S.'s efforts to stop her. Together, they investigate a trail that leads them back four decades, to a time when the stuffy old men now in power at Sterling & Sterling were not nearly so old and nowhere near as stuffy. It was a time many of them would like to forget -- especially now that it appears retribution may finally be near. Auntie Lil is an 84-year old New Yorker who has embarked on a new career as an amateur sleuth after a lifetime of duking it out in the garment industry. Auntie Lil is not your typical little old lady. She is sturdily built with an appalling appetite, remains quite active, hates children and is very opinionated. Annoy- ingly, she is also often right. Her motivation for getting involved in all kinds of scrapes is a need to keep her life rich and interesting. She is aided in her investigations by her buttoned-down 55-year old nephew, T.S. Hubbert, whose precise approach to life is diametrically opposed to that of his free-wheeling aunt. This series is cozier than the Casey books and features a much dryer form of humor. Hubbert & Lil reviews: "Deftly plotted and well-paced... two wonderful sleuths make their debut." -- The San Francisco Chronicle "Weaves a wondrous web of work reltionships shrouded by ghosts of a long ago scandal... In the classic British cozy tradition right down to the body with the antique dagger in its chest." -- The Drood Review of Mystery "With a fond eye for the eccentric, Gray gives the streets of Hell's Kitchen the air of a gritty English village." -- Publishers Weekly "Gray has the rare talent of being able to combine humor with sensitivity, and high comedy with realistic portrayals of genuine people." -- The Virginia-Pilot & The Ledger-Star