Published by Five Star, Maine USA, 10 June 2005.
ISBN: 978-1-59414-290-1(HB)
Alex St. James is a news researcher for Midwest Focus Television in Chicago. When the story opens, she is following a lead to find her biological parents. Her adoptive parents Margot and Ed Szatjemski have retired to Arkansas which has finally given Alex her chance to try and trace her biological parents. Unfortunately, she hits a blank wall, and by being in Springfield when she should have been in Chicago she loses the best story she has had in years.
Milla Voight, a Polish immigrant had become pregnant to Father Carlos de los Santos, although she hadn’t known he was a priest until she attempted to have an abortion and found him conducting a sit-in at the abortion clinic in which she had chosen to have an abortion. Although Mila didn’t get an abortion, she got instant fame particularly as Father Carlos had quickly decamped to Brazil. Alex had been due to interview her for a feature, but now Mila was dead, and Alex’s editor Philip J Bassett (Bass) had just given her story to a new guy called Fenton - instructions from on high says Bass - Fenton’s the station owner’s nephew.
To add insult to injury Alex has been assigned Beauty Salons! But after some reflection Alex muses all may not be lost Mila had worked as a shampoo girl at a hairdresser’s - what better place to start.
This is an excellent mystery, as Alex without sanction from her boss seeks the truth behind Mila’s murder.
Whilst following the investigation and enjoying the politics of a news features office the book also highlights the plights of immigrant girls promised jobs in the land of milk and honey only to find they have been tricked into prostitution - most are too ashamed to attempt to return home.
I enjoyed the mystery;
I like Alex and I hope that this is the start of a series - I want to know just
what the secret behind Alexs’s adoption is.
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Reviewer: Lizzie
Hayes
Julie Hyzy is a New York Times bestselling and Anthony Award-winning author. Her novels include the the White House Chef mystery series, the Manor of Murder mystery series and the Alex St. James mystery series. A Chicago native and graduate of Loyola University, she lives in the Chicagoland area with her husband.
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