She restores furniture. Murder restores itself.
When furniture refinisher Dyce Dare decides to spruce up an old piano as a gift for her boyfriend Cas Wolfe, she expected wood stains and varnish-not stained reputations and varnished truths. But that's exactly what she gets when she discovers a mysterious letter hidden inside, pointing to a murder that's been gathering dust longer than the piano keys.
Suddenly, Dyce's biggest problems aren't just that her well-meaning friend gave her son a miniature motorcycle (what could possibly go wrong?), or that said son has formed an unbreakable alliance with Pythagoras, a neurotic black cat with enough anxiety to power a small city.
No, her biggest problem is that someone out there doesn't want this particular skeleton dancing out of its closet-and they're willing to add Dyce to the body count to keep it quiet. As danger creeps closer to her doorstep and her parents' mystery bookstore, Dyce discovers that old murders are like vintage furniture: they may be hidden away, but eventually, someone always finds them.
A French Polished Murder - When the music stops, the real mystery begins.
(Warning: Contains refinishing tips, parenting mishaps, and one cat who absolutely refuses to be a proper sidekick.)