Should Have Played Poker (A Carrie Martin and the Mah Jongg Players Mystery) by Debra H. Goldstein. (Five Star, 241 pp. $25.95)

Carrie Martin’s mother abandoned her and her father 26 years ago—so why has she shown up at Carrie’s law office? What does she want from Carrie? And what is in the envelope she gives her daughter?

A devoted daughter, Carrie visits her father at the Sunshine Village retirement home every day. After her mother’s brief, mysterious visit, Carrie decides to ask her father about her mother and the abandonment before she reads the letter. But when she gets to the nursing home, there is chaos: Her mother, dressed in someone else’s outfit, lies on the floor—dead.

And so begins the search for the murderer. The police are working on the case but there is no progress, so the Mah Jongg group meets to offer their help to Carrie. The Jewish women also invite Carrie to a Shabbat meal—their family time (they are a family).

Then there is a second murder: the mother of Carrie’s boss. Are the two murders connected? Is Carrie’s company polluting the environment? The Sunshine Village Mah jongg group is on the case.