The Balloon Man

By: Charlotte MacLeod

Narrated by: Andi Arndt

Long-lost relatives and priceless jewels turn a wedding upside down.

For all the Kellings' quirks, no other family in Boston is more adept at throwing a wedding. So when Max Bittersohn's wife, Sarah Kelling, offers to organize his nephew's nuptials, Max is smart enough to stay out of her way. But when the art-fraud investigator stumbles onto a family mystery, he is drawn into something far more serious than the question of who will catch the bouquet. Stolen years earlier, the priceless Kelling jewels were last seen in Amsterdam, so how did they end up among the wedding gifts?

Max is trying to answer that question when a talkative burglar wallops him with a shovel in a failed attempt to rip off the rubies. Then, as the reception winds down, a hot-air balloon lands on the wedding tent, spilling out the Zickerys, a branch of the Kelling clan who prove even odder than the original strain. Family weddings are never easy, but for Max Bittersohn, this one could be murder.

©1998 Charlotte MacLeod (P)2021 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Interesting premise

After finishing the series, I decided to focus on the premise of solving the crimes. All of the crime solving was engaging, but the female narrator gave me the impression these tales were set in the 19th century. Despite the references to 1980s modernity, I thought these stories were anachronistic.

A nice final installment of the series

I think this story makes a good wrap-up of all the characters of the series.
The narrator did a pretty good job.