Amazon Category:  Mystery/Suspense ISBN-10:  0786250291 Type: Fiction Pages: 245 Copyright: 2003 Katie Hassworth resigns her teaching job in despair after a drug-crazed student shoots her and a classmate befoe committing suicide in her classroom. Once she and the student's father have worked to put the student's drug supplier behind bars, Katie joins the father's private detective agency in Key West. There, her life is endangered when she faces finding the murderer of a prominent Key West businesswoman and environmentalist. This character-driven novel set in Key West, Big Pine Key and Marathon involves Katie in shady inner workings of city government, and the suuspenseful plot keeps the reader turning the pages until the very end. Excerpt "Excruciating pain exploded in her head, expanding from a central core and radiating in all directions. She raised her hands to protect herself, but the blows rained faster and harder until all fight left her. She slumped, her head a pulpy melon dangling wetly over the chair arm and dripping blood onto the pristine carpet.

Publisher's Weekly - Conch Shell Murder by Dorothy Francis
In the wake of a traumatic classroom shooting, teacher Katie Hassworth turns private detective in Francis's stylish, fast-moving adult mystery debut, set in Key West. When an intruder bludgeons prominent entrepreneur Alexa Chitting to death with a conch shell in what appears to be a drug-related robbery at Alexa's marina office, the victim's daughter gets her close friend, Katie, to investigate. With her partner, Mac McCartel, away on another assignment, the less-thann-secure Katie must do her best to crack her first case on her own. Conflicts over an endangered salt pond, an affordable housing project and a sudden change of will beneficiaries provide a murder motive for everyone from the panhandler selling informatio to the stunningly efficient manager of the Department of Community Affairs. An attractive and intelligent sleuth, Katie thoroughly explores all leads, albeit considerable distracted by the attentions of the town's tanned and handsome mayor, Rex Layton. Local lore, history, food and fauna and flora add interest without overburdening a smoothly written and suspenseful tale.

Booklist, Francis, Dorothy. Conch Shell Murder
Francis, known for her mysteries for young adults, has written her first for adults. The story introduces Kate Hasworth, a recently licensed private detective in Key West. As a newcomer to the community, she faces a complicated case involving a prominent family. Alexa Chitting, oowner of a prosperous marina, lies dead in her office. Someoone killed her before she had a chance to sign a new will leaving her fortune to the Key West Preservation Society instead of her family and friends. The list of suspects includes her husband, lover, daughter, son-in-law, and secretary. The mayor and the housing-development director may be involved, too. Sorting out family entanglements and political corruption will give Katie a chance to establish herself as a detective if she can survive to solve the crime. Most Key West mysteries lean toward the hard-boiled, but this one gives cozy fans a chance to enjoy Margaritaville, too--Barbara Bibel.

Homegrown Writing -- The Des Moines Register
A Marshalltown resident and children's book author, Dorothy Francis, has set her first adult mystery novel in Key West, Fla.
Mention the Keys and people think of warm temperatures with the sun beating down on turquoise waters and fishing boats. But for this mystery, a cold front has cast an ominous chill over Key West.
Private detective Katie Hassworth is trying her first case on her own, trying to find the killer of a wealthy, imperious marina owner who was about to change her will
The novice etective compiles a list of suspects--and there are many--and sets out to check the alibis of each one.
But what's a tropical locale without romance? "Conch Shell Murder" could double as a somewhat chaste romance novel as Katie and Key West's attractive mayor get to know each other. Of course, he's on the suspect list, too.
Francis provides a cultural portrait of the city--with its tourists, struggling artists, fishing charters, even Civil War history--as well as a classic murder mystery. Ellen Heath