In the Shadow of Death is where it all began — the first book in Deb Pines' traditional whodunit Chautauqua Mysteries featuring the wise and witty reporter sleuth Mimi Goldman.

"An Agatha Christie for the text-message age," IndieReader calls the series.

In 1997, Brad Hansen, Mimi's landlord, drops dead at a community race Mimi is covering for her new job at the small-town Chautauquan Daily.

Natural causes, say the locals. But Mimi, a former New York City tabloid copy editor and pessimistic granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, is suspicious.

With help from a hunky ex-boyfriend detective as well as from Mimi's teenage son Jake and Daily colleague Doc Segovian, Mimi starts poking around the peaceful, historic, lakeside summer arts community of Chautauqua.

There is no shortage of murder suspects including Hansen's young widow, oddball brother, bitter son and daughter and various grudge-holding tenants. As Mimi starts investigating, someone else turns up dead.

So Mimi finds herself in a race of her own to catch the killer . . . before the killer gets her.

Fans of Agatha Christie and Louise Penny and "Only Murders in the Building" will enjoy this twist-filled debut about which the Jamestown Post Journal wrote: "If you enjoy an old-fashioned whodunit, it's perfect."