Old Stuff Mystery

When Unity, Connecticut's Independence Day cannon firing ends in disaster, historian Christian Shaw finds herself in the middle of a murder case-and a land-use dispute involving a possible Revolutionary War battlefield. Worse, her new client is hanging around the Historical Society looking for ideas for a Regency romance reality show. And then she gets involved with 90-something Amy Taylor's bat mitzvah. Now, Christian, her new man, Assistant State's Attorney Joe Poli, son Henry, who has a photographic memory and Type-1 Diabetes, and the colorful cast track the killer through artifacts, land records-and the annual zucchini glut-culminating in a wild and dangerous scene on Amy's big day.

When Hollywood comes to small-town Connecticut, it should be the stuff of dreams-but when a fading movie star ends up dead, a whole different kind of stuff hits the fan. Unity Historical Society head and antique household items-stuff!-expert Christian Shaw is on set when actor Brett Studebaker falls from the pulpit during a streaming service shoot in an old church. She, the "dads she should have had," Garrett and Ed, her son Henry, who has a photographic memory and Type-1 Diabetes, and her colorful friends end up helping Assistant State's Attorney Joe Poli track the killer. Along for the ride: her giant tuxedo cat, Cookie, Ed and Garrett's big red mutt, Norm, and Joe's tiny dog, Cannoli. Woodworking, embroidery, old poisons, and vintage weapons all figure in the case, which comes together in a wild scene at the Historical Society on Fourth-Grade Field Trip Day.