The Case of the Girl Who Didn't Smile - by Georgann Prochaska (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A retired teacher and a baker snoop into the lives of Bottom Ridge residents, the decaying Midwestern rural town where citizens are strangled by secrets. Finding a child's diary in the body cavity of a Toni doll piques Lena Vincenti's interest. Wanting to know what happened to the child accused of arson and murder, Lena and her friend Alice Tricklebank set off on a road trip. The dark secret of the little girl is four decades old. To keep it in the shadows, a woman is killed with a baseball bat. The windows and tires of Lena's pink van are destroyed, and Alice's dive for the ditch prevents a SUV from teaching her to fly. Danger continues to plague both women. Can two women in their sixties fight back even against a gun? But, the town doesn't know Alice Tricklebank reads people. She may flinch at the cruel nicknames they have for each other and be stunned how a town's guilt warps judgment, but she doesn't give up easily. She has her own friendships to preserve and her own secrets to keep.

About the Author

Georgann Prochaska lives outside of Chicago. She graduated from Illinois State University and Northern Illinois University. After retiring from teaching high school, Georgann became a caregiver for her mother, an experience she wrote about in her memoir, On Little Cat Feet.