Follow the Palm

The ninth Charlotte Diamond mystery finds retired FBI senior agent Charlotte Diamond contemplating too many coincidences in what should be two separate mysteries. The mysteries start with two murders and the uncovering of a illegal drug distribution ring in what should be a bucolic, out-of-the-way place, the Curtain Call movie folks retirement community in Hopewell on the Choptank in Maryland that Charlotte owns and operates with her spouse, movie top box-office star, Brenda Brandon. The drugs are distributed in plastic packets with a green palm tree embossed on them. When the two head south for Brenda's singing appearance at the annual Spoleto arts festival in Charleston, South Carolina, the same packets turn up there. The "too many coincidences" continue as the two women find themselves landing in danger by agreeing to stay during Brenda's Spoleto gig at a coastal tea plantation owned by an actress with whom Brenda had appeared in Hollywood movies.