by Dell Shannon
Part of Lieutenant Luis Mendoza, book 30
First published 1979
Joyce McCauley disappears during what should have been a routine school outing to the Museum of Natural History. The nuns count heads outside the building and come up one short. Federal agents assume someone has taken the Catholic school student for money and wait for ransom demands. Lieutenant Luis Mendoza of the Los Angeles Police Department thinks differently. His years working violent crimes have taught him to recognize patterns others miss. Mendoza believes a disturbed individual has grabbed Joyce, not a professional kidnapper seeking payment. While the Feds wait by their phones, Mendoza begins his own investigation. He uses his street knowledge and detective instincts to track down leads the federal agents overlook. The search becomes a race against time as Mendoza follows his hunches through the city. His experience with the worst of human nature guides him toward the truth about what really happened to Joyce McCauley.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: race-against-time, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Los Angeles, Museum of Natural History
Period: 20th-century
182 pages · Hardcover · William Morrow and Company