Murder at the Menger - (The Sydney Lockhart Mystery) by Kathleen Kaska (Paperback)

About the Book

She's at it again; trying to solve a murder in a famous hotel while avoiding being locked up for the very crime she's investigating. Bribes, fixed races, dirty money, and unkempt places. Sydney will get to the bottom of this case in style.

Book Synopsis

She's at it again, trying to solve a murder in another famous hotel while avoiding being locked up for the very crime she's investigating. Bribes, fixed races, dirty money and unkempt places. A string of illicit deeds that trails from San Antonio to New Orleans and back again. Be it plane, train or automobile, Sydney will get to the bottom of this case in her own determined style.

It's 1953, and detective Sydney Lockhart finds herself solving another murder. The victim is a slick bookie named Johnny Pine who had his dirty fingers in pies from Texas to Florida. Sydney tracks Pine to the Menger Hotel in San Antonio where she discovers he's been murdered in the room next to hers. And as usual, Sydney is a suspect. With her partner, Ralph Dixon, handling the case from Austin, or so she believes, Sydney is working alone in unfamiliar territory.

To make matters worse her car is stolen, and she elicits the help of an Irish cab driver named Taco and a bouncer named Rip. Soon she's on the trail of Nora Jasper, a harlot jazz singer and Pine's girlfriend. Corpses start to pile up, a string of illicit deeds surface and Sydney's home life goes south. But the investigation takes a bizarre turn when Sydney is whacked over the head and thrown into the river. She surfaces with a faulty memory, uncertain of whom she can trust. Her only choice is to find the killer before the killer finds her, or before she gets arrested.

A cozy mystery with lots of humor and a few creepy creatures that crawl, you will find yourself on an entertaining goose chase until the very end.

Review Quotes

"Dead bodies follow Sydney Lockhart, forcing her to question the places and people closest to her. Kaska takes us on a breath-holding, page-turning thrill ride from San Antonio to New Orleans."

-Saralyn Richard, author of A Murder of Principal

"What is it like reading a Sydney Lockhart Mystery? Picture if you will; Carl Hiaasen writing a classic film noir featuring the zany; red-haired reporter Sydney Lockhart who somehow gets herself into more tight situations than Lucille Ball did in a whole season of I Love Lucy."

-Bruce Rolfe; author of the Chip Hale Handyman Mystery

"Sydney Lockhart is one of the feistiest; funniest P.I.'s in Texas-or anywhere else! '50s pop culture and a crowd of quirky characters make Kaska's latest mystery a killer read."

-Sheila Webster Boneham; author of Catwalk and the other Animals in Focus mysteries

"Ms. Kaska concocts a delicious plot with crisp dialogue spiced with humor and well-shaped but very human characters. A novel that is a delight to read!"

-Geza Tatrallyay

A cozy mystery with lots of humor and a few creepy creatures that crawl, you will find yourself on an entertaining goose chase until the very end.