The Family Vault, Charlotte MacLeod
The Family Vault, Charlotte MacLeod
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The Family Vault

Author: Charlotte MacLeod

Narrator: Charlotte MacLeod

Unabridged: 7 hr 39 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/20/2021


Synopsis

An aging stripper's fresh corpse turns up in an old family tomb at Boston Common in this "first-rate suspense whodunit" (The Cincinnati Post).

Like many old New England families, the Kellings live to die. Although their family vault is spacious and comfortable, it will not do for Sarah Kelling's Great-Uncle Frederick. In his will, he demands to be buried inside the ancient family tomb at Boston Common, which hasn't admitted a new member in over a century. But when the Kellings crack the old vault's door, they find a recently built brick wall—and behind it lays a surprisingly fresh corpse, a skeleton with rubies in its teeth.

Her name was Ruby Redd, and many years ago she was the toast of Boston's burlesque scene. Her murder case is ice cold, but when Sarah begins investigating it, she finds that the fiery passions behind Ruby's death still burn white hot. With the help of art-fraud investigator Max Bittersohn, Sarah will solve the mystery of the stripper's murder—or take her own place in the family vault.

About Charlotte MacLeod

Charlotte MacLeod (1922-2005) was an internationally bestselling author of cozy mysteries. Born in Canada, she moved to Boston as a child, and lived in New England most of her life. After graduating from college, she made a career in advertising, writing copy for the Stop & Shop Supermarket Company before moving on to Boston firm N. H. Miller & Co., where she rose to the rank of vice president. In her spare time, MacLeod wrote short stories, and in 1964 published her first novel, a children's book called Mystery of the White Knight.

In Rest You Merry (1978), MacLeod introduced Professor Peter Shandy, a horticulturist and amateur sleuth whose adventures she would chronicle for two decades. The Family Vault (1979) marked the first appearance of her other best-known characters: the husband and wife sleuthing team Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn, whom she followed until her last novel, The Balloon Man, in 1998.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Heidi on January 19, 2024

Describing this as a “cozy” mystery seems wrong and yet this story does include some of the familiar features of a cozy including quirky characters, a spunky heroine, gentle suspense, and a mystery decades old. But it also features an eccentric family with more than one closet filled with skeletons......more

Goodreads review by Charles on May 13, 2021

The beginning of what promises to be a good detection series Fine prose, dialogue, characters and interesting situations. The mystery is also interesting but predictable in some places. An awful lot of holes in the detection process. Assumptions are frequently accepted as fact with no proof or eviden......more

Goodreads review by C. (Comment, never msg). on June 24, 2014

I determinedly collect Charlotte MacLeod’s works. “The Family Vault” débuts a grand series. Memorable people and plots are indubitably her gifts. Sarah Kelling’s family is unusual, lacing the inaugural volume with flair. As they look into burying cousin Dolph’s guardian, we learn the Kellings enjoy......more

Goodreads review by Otto on September 25, 2012

The Family Vault is the first book in the Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn mystery series and, like the others, is a splendid screwball “whodunit” that readers of cozies will love. Often called “America’s Agatha Christie,” MacLeod wrote charming and humorous mysteries, and this particular series is......more

Goodreads review by Stephanie on October 05, 2016

Narrated by Andi Arndt. A very nice, easy mystery novel. A great start to the series. A young wife, an older husband, and deadly family secrets keep one enthralled until the end. Even though I *knew* one of the characters was going to die in this novel (because of foreshadowing), and I knew what had......more