This is my first meeting with Charlie and Constance, and I enjoyed it. Ginnie Braden is a set designer working at an Oregon theater managed by her uncle. When Ginnie's lover and another woman are murdered, Ginnie seems to be the sheriff's preferred suspect. Ginnie's estranged grandparents hire retired detective Charlie and psychologist Constance to investigate in the hope of exonerating their granddaughter.

Bringing their NY savvy and lovely simpatico to small-town Oregon, Charlie and Constance unearth a lot of history as well as some key facts in the current case. I enjoyed these two characters a lot, and Wilhelm does a nice job of sketching in details of the other characters' personalities. She doesn't do quite as well with the new director, Gray, but she gives us a nice view of the obsessive behavior of theater types, as well as the different obsessions of other characters.

The mystery itself is well arranged, and the sheriff's settling on Ginnie as a suspect adds a nice layer of tension. I had narrowed it down to a couple of characters with a quarter of the book to go, and Wilhelm did a nice job of casting the spotlight back and forth on them surreptitiously. I'll definitely keep my eyes open for more of this series. ( )