Jonathan Cardew, Jonny to his friends, always wanted to be a detective. When he was a young man, he was just about to tell his father, too, except Dad had had a heart attack and died, leaving the family business to Jonny. A packaging business. With everything needed for mailing, shipping, storing stuff, from the boxes to the packing materials, to the taping and including labeling, shipping and sometimes, delivering. It was not an inspired life, but now there was a son, who did like the business so arrangements were made for him to take over and Jonny could retire. His wife is still working so he sometimes wanders down to a local cafe run by Jasmine and it is there, sharing a table one morning, with Katya, a retired police woman, and Ivo, a young man, nearly homeless but an excellent handyman with a dog (Harold), that the Breakfast Club Detective group is formed. A body had been found and has been determined a death by natural causes which causes a lot of discussion ... and the start of their investigation. Great characters, clever writing, some nice twists to the plot ... Death in the Long Walk is the first Breakfast Club Detectives book by Hilary Pugh.

Oddly enough, my next read after The Attenbury Emeralds was also about a necklace that went missing: A Burglary in Belgravia, by Lynda Wilcox is set in London in 1924. It's during a play that Lady Eleanor Blackwell hears what might have been a gunshot, or at least something hitting the floor. Upon investigation of the box next door (think individual rooms here, the fancy/expensive seats in a theater) she finds Sir David Bristol dead from a gunshot wound. Determined to stay away and let the police do their job, that changes when the lead in the play (and mistress to Sir David) asks for her help. There are other murders, too, all with a connection to a pearl necklace. And there are threats for her to stop. Some nice details here (Lady Eleanor has certain skills she learned during 'her part' in the war), as did her maid/friend Tilly. Not a bad read. :-)

A Date with Death is a prequel to the West Wales Murder Mysteries series by P. F. Ford. It's a bit darker than the rest of the series, but with the good writing we expect from this author. One of the detectives, Sarah, is returning to work after maternity leave. Her husband is often absent so there is tension on the home front. One of her coworkers is being especially creepy so there is tension at work, too. There is pressure on her boss to solve a series of robberies and two murders ... NOW. Let's just say there is a lot going on! I figured part of one of the mysteries out, see if you do, too. :-)

Reading Hermit With Dog