Death of a Romance Writer and Other Stories, by Joan Hess

Well, I am so eager for Joan Hess's 2010 Maggody book that I came across all sorts of things in the catalogue that I hadn't read by her, including this oddly imbalanced book, which, as it's redeeming grace, had short stories in it that introduced Arly Hanks, Ruby Bee and Estelle. It also had the bizarre novella The Night Blooming Cereus, with an introduction that was a bit of a relief, in which she talks about how in 1985, at least to her, Israeli/Palestinian relations seemed like a good topic for a light-hearted humourous mystery, and about how that no longer seems like a ha-ha situation, so that was nice.