Michelle “Mikki” Lincoln has taken on a post-retirement career as a freelance editor and her life is clicking along nicely when she finds out she’s inherited a local, long-abandoned farm from a woman she hasn’t seen in decades who was a friend of Mikki’s mother. There’s one condition – Mikki must find some missing diaries, then edit and publish them. If she doesn’t, she forfeits the inheritance.

This captures Mikki’s interest and she sets out to find out to find the diaries, which is not an easy task in a house that’s been standing empty for decades. There’s plenty to discover, including one and possibly two murders and who committed them. More recently, it also appears someone has been using the abandoned property for criminal activity. Will Mikki find the diaries, solve the mysteries and get out alive?

Mikki is an interesting protagonist — a retired widow who is less fit and flexible now,  and it’s inspiring to see an older lead competently deal with the extra physical challenges she faces. The author does continuously remind us of Mikki’s age, though.

The author has created an appealing character in Mikki and the secondary characters add to the richness of Murder, She Edited. The story did, however, seem to drag in places and I did find myself skimming some of the long descriptions without losing any of the plot.

3 stars