The Balloon Man (27 page)

“I've never heard you talk about him that way,” Max said in surprise.

“You won't hear me talk about him a lot from now on. He was a dear, sweet man, and now he's gone. I've said good-bye to him.”
Sarah turned to face him and put her hands on his shoulders. “I knew I loved you, Max, but I didn't know how much until I
was afraid I'd lost you.”

He took her in his arms. “I don't even know what the hell acidophilus milk is, but if you want some, I'll track it down.”

“I think there's some in the fridge. Would you like a glass?”

“No thanks. What I'd really like—”

“So would I,” Sarah said. “Let's go in.”

“A top entertainer.” —
Chicago Sun-Times

Few writers change a genre—or revitalize one—but for twenty years Charlotte MacLeod has taken the classic cozy mystery and
made it a contemporary phenomenon. Rich with whimsy, zany characters, and unfailing charm, her novels never jar our sensibilities
while they tickle our funnybone. Now, in the first Sarah Kelling mystery since
The Odd Job,
Charlotte MacLeod returns wittier than ever with a delightful cast of curmudgeons, a totally original murder weapon, and
a mystery that lifts our spirits, up, up, and away.…

THE BALLOON MAN

Art detective Max Bittersohn knows when to lie low. He wisely keeps out of the way when his wife, Sarah Kelling, plans a huge
wedding for his nephew at their Boston North Shore mansion. By the time the Kelling and Bittersohn clans arrive on the big
day, everything, including the weather, seems perfect. But even Sarah can't foresee a hot air balloon landing on the wedding
tent—or the squashed corpse beneath it.

And no one anticipates one of the biggest surprises in the Kelling family history: the mysterious reappearance among the wedding
gifts of the long-lost Kelling rubies.

No believer in coincidence, Max soon rises to the challenge of tying the events together. Meanwhile Sarah's psychic cousin
Theonia is seeing visions in her tea leaves, which may prove uncannily accurate … or a red herring among the orange Pekoe.
Then Max vanishes into thin air. Soon Sarah is rallying kith and kin to search for him, while danger descends on their three-year-old
son, Davy—in one of the best Charlotte MacLeod mysteries ever.

Bonnie Scott Connolly

C
HARLOTTE
M
AC
L
EOD
, born in New Brunswick, Canada, and a naturalized U.S. citizen, is the multi-award-winning author of over thirty acclaimed
novels. Her series featuring detective Professor Peter Shandy, America's homegrown Hercule Poirot, delivers “generous dollops
of … warmth, wit, and whimsy” (
San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle
). But fully a dozen novels star her popular husband-and-wife team of Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn. And her native Canada
provides a backdrop for the amusing Grub-and-Stakers cozies written under the pseudonym Alisa Craig. A cofounder and past
president of the American Crime Writers League, she has also edited the bestselling anthologies
Mistletoe Mysteries
and
Christmas Stalkings.
Charlotte MacLeod lives in rural Maine.

A Main Selection of The Mystery Guild
^®

“Mystery with wit and style.”

—
Washington Post

“The screwball mystery is MacLeod's cup of tea.”

—
Chicago Tribune

“Impish play on words and a generous dash of wit lend MacLeod mysteries their trademark—sheer fun. Her fans grow with every
new book she writes, and deservedly so.”

—
Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine

“Charlotte MacLeod has the gift of farce. Some of her humor is swift and subtle, some slapstick, but she brings it all off.
At the same time, she spins a neat, clear web of puzzle and mystery.”

—
Houston Post

“Charlotte MacLeod does what she does better than anybody else does it; and what she does is in the top rank of modern mystery
fiction.”

—
Elizabeth Peters

“Old-fashioned fun … Charlotte MacLeod has captured the epitome of the ‘cozy’ mystery.”

—
Mostly Mystery