Kate Borden - Death of a Tart

Death of a Tart
Borden's 4th book
1st book featuring Peggy Jean Turner , mayor of Cobb's Landing
197 pages
Berkley Prime Crime Mystery

When single mother Peggy Jean Turner succeeds her late husband as mayor of Cobb's Landing, she faces a major challenge: rescue the New England village from its financial woes. Now she's singing the praises of the wealthy miracle man who bought the local bank. Mayor P.J. Turner thinks Max is a godsend...

Max's plan? Turn Cobb's Landing into a tourist attraction by "going Colonial." So far so quaint, until period clothes and corn husking become mandatory, and baseball and satellite dishes are banned (under the threat of punishment in the stocks). Yet Cobb's Landing is prospering, and who can argue with that? Certainly not Selma, the town tart... since she's just drowned. What's more, the splinters under her fingernails match the same wood once used to torture witches in New England's dishonorable past. It appears someone's taking the ye olde customs to extremes. Now it's up to P.J. to solve the crime and wrestle Cobb's Landing from Max's clutches before more old-fashioned traditions take their toll...

I had actually planned to read this book in February, but I happened to have some time here and so I picked this one. It will be a group read in March, so I might have to take some good notes, just so that I can remember the story and the characters.

First sentence (more like paragraph, this time):
" "Nick? I'm leaving now. Do your homework and don't forget to let the dog in. It's starting to rain. Dry Buster off with the old towel hanging next to the back door. Nicky, are you listening to me?" "