Naturally, a mystery has to have suspects. And given Finding the Source is Isabel Long’s eighth case, I wanted to give her a challenge.

For the first time, the case involves an outright murder. Others have been so-called accidental deaths, a supposed failed suicide attempt, and missing people, including an abducted baby. And, yes, she solved each one. So, Isabel has a streak going.

Her eighth case starts when she is approached on a city street by a homeless man, Tom McKenzie, who says his mother was murdered in a small town forty-three years ago and her case was never solved. His mother, Abby McKenzie, was a well-liked book seller who had a shop. She was found strangled and beaten in her home by Tom when he was 12.

So, here are the obstacles I threw in Isabel’s way. First, forty-three years is a long time ago. Isabel wasn’t living in the hilltowns then. Then she finds many of the people connected to the case, including suspects the police questioned, have been long dead.

But that doesn’t deter Isabel, who uses the skills she learned as a nosy reporter covering small towns to find people aka sources who were connected to Abby and even her case. From those conversations, Isabel develops a list of suspects. And I thoroughly enjoyed creating each one.

Was her murder linked to the valuable books she sold on the side to collectors? Then Rudolph Fisher is definitely on the list of suspects. Too bad he’s dead, but his twin brother Randolph, also a collector, is worth interviewing.

Or was it something more personal? One source, a waitress who was a friend, claims a town official stalked Abby after she rejected him. He’s dead.

Fred Perry was allegedly the last person to see Isabel after he and his wife attended a book reading that night. He brought his wife home first since she allegedly wasn’t feeling well. Yes, they’re both dead.

What about the man who was working on Abby’s house and was known for cheating on his wife? He now has dementia. Hmm, what about the wife?

Abby’s ex-husband is alive but unwell. He has an alibi, but his second wife, jealous of Abby, doesn’t. Interesting that she wasn’t interviewed by the police after the crime happened.

Tom lends Isabel a notebook he created about his mother’s murder, which includes a page called Suspects. Here’s an excerpt from the scene in which she takes Tom out for breakfast.

I am especially interested in the page: MY SUSPECTS. So, I return to that one. Tom wrote his father’s name, but that one is crossed out. The other two names are George Perry and Rudolph Fischer.

“What made you change your mind about your father?” I ask.

“I was pissed at him. That’s why. I was staying at his house that night anyways. We came back real late from going to Boston to see the Red Sox.”

Depending on when they returned from Boston, his father could have snuck out after Tom went to bed. Having Tom sleeping over could be an alibi. Stephen McKenzie’s name is uncrossed in my mind.

“Okay. What can you tell me about George Perry and Rudolph Fischer?”

“George lived in our town. He and his wife Elizabeth went out with Mom that night. They went to dinner and an author reading. I heard he took his wife home first, and then he dropped off my mother.”

“And you suspect him, why?”

“’Cause he was one of the last to see her. Anyway, he’s dead. So’s his wife.”

Ugh, this case has too many dead people.

“And Rudolph Fischer?”

“He was a book collector in New York City, but I think he had a summer home somewhere around here. Kind of a jerk, but Mom worked with him a lot. He only bought rare books worth a lot of money. Mom had a knack for finding them. I remember her telling me she had a first edition of The Great Gatsby with the original dust jacket. She could tell because there was a typo on it that said, ‘jay Gatsby.’ The J wasn’t capitalized. And it was signed.” He shakes his head. “Don’t ask me how I remember that, but I do. It came in a box of books she bought at a rummage sale earlier that month. She didn’t know it was in there until she brought it home. Mom told me the book was worth a lot of money. She called Rudolph Fischer. She knew he’d be interested. Mom didn’t keep those books in her store. She had them in that bookcase in her office at home. The one with the broken glass.”

You can solve the case along with Isabel by reading Finding the Source in Kindle or paperback. Thank you if you do. And if you enjoy it, please leave a rating or review on Amazon.