A new pair of sleuths. Pat Montgomary and Phillis Toner must find out who murdered Pat's neighbor. The first in a series of cozies.
A posh home in Philadelphia's Society Hill. A sunny day. An inviting balcony for sunbathing. What's wrong with this picture? Don't look over the railing toward the patio below. Your neighbor is looking up at you, only she doesn't see you. She's dead. A bullet from the house in back found its target.
The next few days you'll have to cope with a voyeur in that house in back, a jealous boyfriend, another neighbor who's an expert marksman, one who listens over garden walls, and just when you think it's safe to sit on your patio again, another body is found. If the cozy whodunit, with a touch of romance, family intrigue, a snooping and unethical blackmailer, are your cup of tea, then join Pat Montgomary and Phillis Toner as they solve the mystery of The Bodies Out Back .
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The Bodies Out Back
THE BODIES OUT BACK is set in the posh area of Philadelphia known as Society Hill. Phillis Toner, a young working woman in search of a place to live, comes across an apartment which seems too good to be true. Reasonable, large, convenient, in fact everything she dared hope to find. Only trouble with it is that she will have to share a house owned by someone else. "All things considered," she tells herself, "that's not such a bad idea." She'll still have her privacy. Her landlord/housemate, Pat, is in Europe at the present, and isn't due home for several months.
Ah, but things change. Pat comes home much earlier than expected, which wouldn't be so bad except that Pat turns out to be a he and not a she. Sharing a house with a man she does not know, having a boy friend, Carl, who is on the police force and is very jealous, is not Phillis' idea of a perfect arrangement. She sets out to find a new place to live, but before that can be done, murder stikes. The woman who lives next door is found shot in Pat's rear patio. What is even more frightening is that she was dressed exactly like Phillis. The gunshot came from one of the upper floors of the house in back and even an expert marksman could have mistaken the victim for Phillis.
The next couple of days find Pat and Phillis trying to find out whodunit. Someone has been asking questions in the neighborhood about Phillis. A voyeur has been watching her apartment from the house in back. The murdered woman's husband has a collection of trophies for marksmanship. Both he and their daughter have reason to at least wish the victim dead. Another neighbor spends much of her time listening over garden walls. Pat's Aunt Molly, the person who arranged that Phillis--and absolutelyno one else--would rent the apartment, has a secret, one which affects both Pat and Phillis.
Throw in the new housekeeper/cook Pat hired only days before, who listens at doors and tries them to see if they're unlocked, makes telephone calls discussing Phillis, and you have a house ready for more trouble.
More trouble does come. There's a second murder. The body is found in the empty house in back.
Captain Sylvester of the Philadelphia Police Department and Carl's superior is in charge of the case. He discovers that Phillis was involved in a murder in Texas, and the sheriff there still thinks she was the murderer, although he was never able to prove it. It's one more reason for Phillis, along with Pat, to find the killer this time.
Find the killer they do. It's a simple lie that solves the case of the bodies out back.
If you enjoy reading about a couple of amateur sleuths tracking down a killer, you'll enjoy this one.
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