Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson
THE PRIMROSE MURDER SOCIETY. By Stacy Hackney. William Morrow. 339 pages. $15.20, paperback.
Until recently, Stacy Hackney has been a lawyer who also wrote two well-received books for children ages about 8-12. These days, she’s taken on more of a challenge, and those of us who love a good, light mystery should be pleased.
Now she’s left the legal profession, and she’s the author of an adult novel that’s classified as a cozy mystery, but one that offers more than some books in that category. The Primrose Murder Society fits the cozy label in that it’s a murder mystery that manages to be iight-hearted. It’s a story that spares us the violence and gory details of the crime. Instead, it gives us interesting, entertaining characters and a good look at the community where the murder (or in this case, murders) occurs.
But unlike a lot of cozy mysteries, The Primrose Murder Society isn’t so light as to seem more comedy than mystery. Serious themes and messages underlie the engaging story.
Hackney’s main character is Lila Shaw, a woman whose life is suddenly upended. Raised in Eastern Virginia, Lila was taught that her main goal in life should be to marry well. She thought she’d succeeded, until her husband, apparently guilty of white-collar crime, fled the country to avoid arrest. His indictment and flight were well publicized. Suddenly, all her “friends” in Norfolk want nothing to do with her, sure she can’t have been unaware of her husband’s shady dealings. She’s struggled to make ends meet, and now she’s losing her house. To make matters worse, her 10-year-old daughter, Bea, is being expelled for bad behavior from the elite private school Lila and her husband both attended.
Desperate, Lila accepts the offer her mother’s “boyfriend” makes: She can move, rent free and with a small stipend, into an apartment in the Primrose, a historic building in Richmond that’s been converted into upscale condos for wealthy people over 55. She can live there while she clears out the mess that the boyfriend’s mother, a hoarder, left when she died five years earlier.
Bea, her daughter, is thrilled by the prospect, primarily because she knows that the Primrose gained notoriety for the still unsolved murder of a teenage girl there 21 years earlier. A precocious, strong-willed fourth grader, Bea is fascinated by murder mysteries. She’s a huge fan of the old TV show Murder, She Wrote, as well as true-crime podcasts.
Hardly have Lila and Bea moved in when the Primrose is rocked by a big announcement: The owner of the posh penthouse apartment – the grandfather of the 16-year-old murder victim – dies. In his will, he offers $2 million to anyone who solves that cold case.
Reluctantly, Lila lets Bea convince her that the two of them should investigate. She needs somehow to bond with Bea and help her deal with the upheavals in her life. Then too, if they unexpectedly stumble upon something, she sure could use some money.
A few of the elderly residents agree to join the effort.
It all seems innocent enough until another resident of the Primrose is murdered, and Lila becomes the No. 1 suspect.
Without burdening the story, Hackney manages to work in some humor about the lives of Virginia’s rich and snooty. She also touches on themes of what it means to be a good mother, and how someone can rebuild a shattered life. Then there’s the hint of a romance…
It all makes you hope that the Primrose Murder Society might be investigating another case before long.
Full disclosure: I didn’t notice until after I’d read the book and formed my opinions that the author is a Wake Forest University graduate, but I am glad to know she’s a fellow alumna.