Judith Flanders’ Sam Clair series has been called “Hilarious, bighearted, clever, whip-smart, and devious” by Louise Penny, with good reason. Flanders returns with the fourth installment, A Howl of Wolves, where she fuses Sam Clair’s irreverant humor and keeps readers entertained with a mystery that gives a backstage look at the theater.

One of the highlights is the publishing world that Sam inhabits, and that’s here, too, a nice constant to the series. Sam and her Scotland Yard boyfriend Jake are doing the good neighbor thing, supporting upstairs Kay and her son, Bim, who have parts in West End play. The play is filled with gory deaths that 6 yr- old Bim relishes.

The couple are good sports, until the second act curtain reveals a dummy hanging from the rafters, made up to look like the play’s director, Campbell Davison. Poor taste, Sam thinks, until she realizes along with everyone else that this is no dummy, but the director himself strung up grotesquely.

Seeing Kay upset is all Sam needs to ‘help’ Jake and his team try to find the murderer, a man not extremely well-liked. As the suspect list grows, so does Sam’s need to keep death at bay.

With a very likeable cast of characters and a nicely twisted plot,when you throw in the satire that makes Sam a hoot to read, and you have one clever mystery indeed.