"clever amateur sleuth"
In 1965 Santa Cruz, California during the worst storm of
the season, Trish Malcolm, a less than three-week
management hire by Ma Bell, is forced to work the
switchboard, devices she knows nothing about.
Inadvertently, she accidentally overhears a part of a pay
phone conversation placed by someone named Jay Jay. The
next night a telephone operator is run down in the parking
lot and Trish believes it was no accident but a killer
gunning for her. She locates the street where the phone call was placed and
sees only one building in the vicinity. There's a sign in
the window saying there's a room for rent and Trish decides
to take it thinking she can find the killer. During the
course of her investigation, there are shootings, a killing
and a building set on fire.
Only when she comes out in the open and enlists the help of
her co-workers does she have a chance of exposing the
killer. Sheree Petree has written a very clever amateur sleuth
novel that captures the ambiance of the 1960's America.
The heroine is an admirable and determined young woman who
acts according to her own convictions, not caring if
everyone thinks she's a fool though taking matters in her
own hands as opposed the police seems today as foolish, but
remember the time and generation involved. The mystery is
so well constructed that readers won't guess who the killer
is until the author chooses to reveal the identity. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted June 23, 2002
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