The Painted Lady: a Hackshaw Mystery (Hackshaw Mysteries)

With his eye for the ladies and his knack for Victorian house restorations, how can Elias Hackshaw resist when the beautiful Hester DelGado asks him to help with the renovation of her painted lady in Port Erie? Upstate New Yorks most irascible and astute weekly newspaper editor, however, is also one of its biggest gadflies and snoops. Before he knows whats happening, Hackshaw has jumped with both feet into a controversy (over Hesters garishly painted house) and then into a murder investigation (of a wayward girl who lived with Hester), both of which are at the heart of a complicated scam. And this time, Hack had no part in the clever con job but try convincing the local police chief and his brawling young deputy, who just happens to be the dead girls boyfriend. Toss in a hapless town drunk, a furious boat race down the Erie Canal, and an assortment of quirky small-town characters, and once again you have the elements for a top-drawer comic mystery.