The Girl in 304

THE GIRL IN 304 When they find Lucy Carter, she has been stabbed to death, stripped of her dress, her body dumped near the side of the road. It’s a county murder so it’s up to Sheriff Ed Masters to figure out who did it. But who has a motive for such a senseless killing? Lucy had worked as a carhop for Benny Zurich at his drive-in, and had quit for some reason. Maybe Benny wanted to get back at her. The city cop, Lt. Cox, seems to be too familiar with her as well. In fact, Masters finds out that Cox has been collecting from the working girls at the hotel where she lived, and that Lucy had something over him that she threatened to reveal. Could he have had a hand in her death? The more Masters delves into Lucy’s death, the more suspects he finds. But which one of them killed her?

Harold Robert Daniels was born November 3, 1919, in Winchendon, Massachusetts. He graduated from college in Milford, Connecticut, and became a specialist in the metal industry. He was editor of Metalworking magazine from 1958 to 1972. In the 1950s he began publishing short stories, and in 1955 he published his first novel, In His Blood, which was nominated that year for an Edgar for Best First Novel. John D. MacDonald praised his fourth novel, The Snatch, as "one of the modern classics of crime and punishment.” Daniels’ last novel and first hardback original, The House on Greenapple Road, was published by Random House in 1966. He died October 1, 1980 in Washington D. C.