Review
When rich matriarch MaryDell Paine beseeches Port Frederick Civic Foundation director Jenny Cain to fund a recreation hall for released mental patients (such as MaryDell's brother), Jenny and her fired but not-yet-gone assistant Derek view the proposed site and canvass the neighbors for their opinion of it. When Jenny leaves, Derek innocently pockets the key, then uses it to let a pair of street people in for the night to escape the cold. In the morning, foul-mouthed neighbor Rodney Gardner lies butchered on the floor; there's a bizarre message on the blackboard from someone signed MOB; and Derek is missing (he later turns up sharing an expensive condo with Rodney's Lolita-ish wife Sammie). Anxious to solve the murder before the lecherous owner sells the building to the competitive bidder, Jenny consults her psychiatrist chum Marsha; then pries again among the neighbors, including anti-rec-hall Perry Yates, who had an affair with Sammie while he was married to free-wheeling artist Marianne. Soon another of the neighbors, who collects pig replicas and spouts locked-ward lingo, is found hanged; and MaryDell Paine's brother is fleeing to the next county in a mink coat and a Cadillac. Whodunit and why? A mental patient? A concerned neighbor? A lover? A greedy realtor? Jenny finds out in face-to-face confrontation, which ends in a hail of detective bullets. Peppy Jenny is a wonderfully unsaccharine heroine, whose sardonic asides are delightful, but the other characters could have used more fleshing out. Still, a sprightly mix of social issues and amateur detection-and a guaranteed pleasure for fans of the cozy mystery. (Kirkus Reviews)
Product Description
When Jenny Cain tries to set up a recreation centre for ex-mental patients she encounters neighbourhood hostility, and then murder. This mystery has a surprise ending, and highlights the problems faced in attempting to integrate the mentally ill into society.
