Death of a Prankster by M.C. Beaton
“For every ten jokes, thou hast got a hundred enemies.”
Laurence Sterne
If there was one thing old Andrew Trent loved it was playing practical jokes. From Whoopie cushions in the armchairs and buckets of cold water on top of door frames to staged hauntings and dummies hidden in the wardrobe no one was safe and no body was amused.
So when Andrew is found dead dressed in a Halloween mask and stuffed into a wardrobe everyone assumes it’s a joke gone wrong. After all, who would want to kill a harmless old prankster.
But as he looks into the death it doesn’t take local constable Hamish MacBeth long to deduce that there were plenty of people who wanted Andrew Trent dead. Was it someone after the old man’s money or did he play a joke that just went too far? When another body is discovered it’s certainly clear to Hamish that murder is no laughing matter.