Elected for Death

By Valerie Wolzien

Among rich northeastern suburbanites, politics can be poison.

Hancock, Connecticut-a historic enclave of wealth and conservatism-is in the final heat of a three-way mayoral election when long-shot candidate Ivan Deakin takes a sip of cyanide-laced water and is retired to the morgue.

His murder exacerbates an already fierce controversy over proposed changes to local real estate rules-changes that would drastically alter property values. Like everyone else, amateur sleuth Susan Henshaw suspects unusually dirty politics, and when her husband-who’s running for town council-is tarred in the general smearing, Susan gets serious about finding Ivan’s killer.

In the excellent Elected for Death the possibilities are myriad, for Ivan Deakin was a political loose cannon, and the murkiness of his business deals is matched only by the notoriety of his romantic adventures.…