Hello, Stranger - Hardcover

Swift, Virginia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060543337 ISBN 13: 9780060543334

Publisher: Harper, 2006

Synopsis

Sally felt the cold gale, heard the scream of police sirens, the honking of fire engine Klaxons. Every detail of the scene sharpened in surreal focus: the weathered plank fences that lined the alley; the bare branches of cottonwoods peaking above the fence tops, flapping in the keening wind; the garbage cans, chained down to board boxes to keep them from blowing away; the clattering sound of dust and gravel flung against hard surfaces.

And the body on the ground. Now she looked at him. Blue pinstripe suit, black wingtip shoes. Not, Sally thought with an unbelievably inappropriate giggle, a Laramie look.

College professor Sally Alder returns to her office one cold, blustery afternoon to find Charlie Preston, a student in her women's history class, slumped in a chair outside her door. The girl has suffered a very recent, brutal battering, but she refuses to call the cops or her family, or go to the hospital. With little other recourse, Sally gives Charlie the cash in her wallet and the coat off her back, and the girl leaves.

Charlie's been gone for two weeks when a body turns up, a man beaten to death in an alley. It's Brad Preston, and his estranged daughter heads the list of suspects. The police immediately start to look for the girl, and so does Sally. The more Sally discovers, the less convinced she is that Charlie is guilty. She has to find the real killer before there's another victim and an innocent young woman must pay the price.

About this title

About the Author

Virginia Swift teaches history at the University of New Mexico. She also writes nonfiction under the name of Virginia Scharff. She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Reviews

Swift's fourth Mustang Sally mystery (after 2004's Bye, Bye Love) sizzles with partisan politics, sexual attraction and murder. Sally Alder, a University of Wyoming women's studies professor, is shaken to learn that one of her female students, Charlie Preston, has been beaten up. Though Sally's unsure who's responsible, she knows that Charlie's dad, Brad Preston, has roughed up Charlie in the past. After coming to Sally for help, the girl disappears—and a few weeks later, papa Preston is found bludgeoned to death. Who killed Brad? Was it Charlie, or her boyfriend, out for revenge? Was it a local Democratic activist, horrified by the prospect that Brad—a right-wing zealot—planned to run for Congress? Also interested in the case is Dave Haggerty, a handsome single attorney, who's captivated by Sally. Despite her long-standing relationship with hunky Hawk Green, Sally finds herself enjoying Dave's attentions. Clearing Charlie's name, it turns out, will cause Sally to endanger her relationship with Hawk—and her life. This engrossing novel should win new readers to Swift's series. (Mar.)
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Edition details

• Publisher: Harper
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060543337
• ISBN 13: 9780060543334
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272