by Dell Shannon
Part of Lieutenant Luis Mendoza, book 22
First published 1973
A naked woman turns up dead in Los Angeles, miles away from where she belongs. The victim appears respectable, making her brutal end all the more puzzling. Lieutenant Luis Mendoza of the LAPD Homicide squad takes the case, but he faces obstacles beyond the usual investigative challenges. His team operates short-handed because Sergeant Higgins has become a new father and cannot focus on police work. While Higgins celebrates his baby's arrival, Mendoza must solve the murder with reduced resources. The case resists easy answers as Mendoza digs into the victim's background and tries to understand how she ended up so far from home. Meanwhile, other criminals continue their deadly work across the city. Mendoza races against time to catch the killer before another innocent person dies. The investigation tests his skills as both detective and leader of an understaffed unit.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, understaffed-team
Setting: Los Angeles
Period: 20th-century
192 pages · Hardcover · Gollancz
Content warnings: violence