Vane pursuit

Seventh in the Professor Peter Shandy mystery series >A dastardly gang of rogues is sneaking around Balaclava county, snatching priceless antique Praxiteles Lumpkin weathervanes. Before they disappear entirely, Helen Shandy decides to photograph several of them for the Balaclava Historical Society files. >A good thing, too. Helen gets a shot of the vane atop the Lumpkin Soap Factory only hours before the thieves set the building ablaze--the fatal fire having begun as the result of the misfiring of a nearby Civil War cannon. >After this catastrophe, Helen travels to Maine to photograph one of…