Where is Amelia Bohannon? That’s the question. 

Death By Dauber by Donna Walo Clancy, is the first book of Thelma and June’s Mystery Adventures Series. 

This delightful, cozy mystery is set in a small town that has a twenty-five-year-old secret. The main character is Thelma Frost, a 59-year-old firecracker, who fights for justice wherever she goes. Her nemesis is Agatha Tram, the wealthiest woman in town. 

The action starts when Thelma and her sidekick, June, are at Bingo. Someone accidentally pushes Agatha while she is in line, and she starts throwing her weight around. She threatens people who work at the town’s newspaper, which she owns. Thelma stands up to Agatha and puts her in her place. That’s the end of that … or is it? 

One day, Thelma receives a mysterious manilla envelopment with no return address and a local postmark. Inside is an unsigned handwritten letter and two black and white pictures. The letter’s cryptic message instructs Thelma to keep the pictures in a safe place where they can’t be found by anyone. She finds out Agatha sent them, and before Thelma can find out why, Agatha is found dead. Now she has two mysteries to solve; who killed Agatha, and how is it connect to the pictures?

Ms. Clancy’s use of a slightly older protagonist is refreshing to this slightly older reader. It’s an entertaining book that’s near impossible to put down. I give Death By Dauber five stars.