Competition Can Be Murder (A Charlie Parker Mystery)

From the back - When former vanity license plate inspector Claire Montrose finds a valuable diamond ring embedded in an old stone wall, she's uncovered more than lost jewelry -- she's just unwittingly exposed a fifty-year-old murder. Claire's octogenarian housemate, Charlie, recognizes the ring with shock. It belonged to Elizabeth Ellsworth, a woman who broke off her engagement fifty years earlier, then killed herself. All the "old gang" believed Elizabeth had returned the ring, so how did it get buried inside a stone wall? As half-century-old questions resurface about the incident, Claire discovers more about the terrible secrets Elizabeth kept - and why someone wanted her dead. But the closer she gets to the truth, the more Claire realizes that someone believes old crimes must stay buried...at all cost."Cozy trappings...effectively contrast with chilling glimpses of Charlie's concentration camp days--(and) a vivid cast of elderly characters." Publishers Weekly