Cordelia is haunting her old apartment in a sketchy area of Boston. Ruby is the current tenant. They have solved two murders in the first two books in the series. They feel like old friends now. In The Key to a Killer they attempt to solve a rash of break ins at their apartment building and also look into the cause of Cordelia’s death. Was it suicide as the police think? Or could it have been murder?
The plot provides a deep dive into Cordelia’s earthy life. She was rather wild in adulthood having lived through a fraught childhood with her younger brother Ian. Could someone in her life have hastened her death? What really happened on that dark night? Ruby, Cordelia, Ian and their reporter friend Penny investigate.
While the book does seem to point the finger at everyone in Cordelia’s life, the eventual answer was intriguing and totally unexpected.
Just when I thought I was in, they pull me back out.
I have just learned, via the book’s publicist, that The Key to a Killer is the planned last book in the Ruby and Cordelia cozy mystery series. This is only book three so it seems like it could go on for at least a few more. I’ll miss their unusual friendship. So in that spirit, I will up my rating to 4 stars. Goodbye old friends.
Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for providing me with an advanced review copy.