"Can Paige find the killer and write the story?"

Paige Turner is secretary at Daring Detective magazine. She wants to become a staff writer, but the year is 1954 and women are not treated well. Most of the men at the magazine expect her to make the coffee. One day when she calls in sick and the coffee doesn't get made (well, duh, she's not there!), they don't know what to do. Paige takes a lot of ribbing from her co-workers about her name. She is looking for that one story that she can investigate and write, hoping that it will be published in the magazine.

One day while she is clipping articles from the local papers for her boss, she spies a story that grabs her interest. She recognizes the picture of Babs Comstock, but not the name, on a story. Babs was strangled with a Hopalong Cassidy jump rope. Babs had had high hopes for the big screen. She had been trying to get modeling jobs, thus her picture had come across Paige's desk some time ago. Paige decides to begin looking into Babs' life and try to determine who could have killed her and why.

Paige interacts with Detective Dan Street who is running the investigation. She is surprised to find she is very attracted to him. Paige is a widow. He is divorced. Her friend Abby keeps encouraging her, but Paige is quite leery.

Paige soon finds that Babs (really Wanda Wingate) was involved in some unsavory activities. Paige also finds herself in some dangerous situations. She ends up on the roof of her building, with very little clothing on, hiding out during one of those situations.

This is such a terrific book. It is the first I have ever read by this author, but it won't be the last! I can't wait to read the second book in this series.

Paige and Abby are great friends. They are very well written characters and interact wonderfully. The author has really captured the time period as well. I found it difficult seeing Paige treated so terribly at work, but then I had to keep reminding myself that's what it was like back then.

The story moves along at a fairly good pace and the setting is described very well. I found the mystery to have plenty of red-herrings so that I had trouble figuring out who did it. That's the way I like it. I highly recommend this book.

Reviewed by Dawn Dowdle
Posted May 21, 2004

A feisty young widow with Brenda Starr bravado and a fixation with following in Agatha Christie's footsteps, Paige wants to pen a memorable mystery. But first she must solve the murder of a 24-year-old beauty queen.