Refusing to pay a traffic ticket she feels was unjust, Wilhemina (Helma) Zukas, local librarian, has been sentenced to 50 hours of community service at the Promise Mission for Homeless Men. Once Brother Danny, the overworked leader, realizes her skill for organization, he puts her to work sorting through boxes of donation receipts.

Intent upon her work, Helma misses the excitement until her friend Ruth drags her outside -- there’s been a shooting at the front door of the Mission and one of the board members is dead! Miss Zukas immediately recognizes him as Quentin Boyd, also a new member on the Library Board committee, who started off by demanding an audit of the library’s records. Stung by this slur upon her beloved library, Helma and Mr. Boyd had tangled verbally at the last meeting, a fact that, once revealed to the police, makes her briefly a suspect.

When one of the residents of the Mission confesses to the murder, Helma feels certain that he is innocent and a convenient patsy for the real killer. She continues her service at the Mission as a way of finding out more about its inhabitants and the connection to Boyd. Helma’s newly awakened sensitivity serves her well, eventually leading her to the real killer and putting her life in danger.

The supporting characters are not as finely detailed as Helma, with the exception of Ruth, Helma’s passionate, artistic friend from high school days and the counterbalance to Helma’s cool, analytic ways. The tepid romance between the local police chief and Helma has never really heated up; both are too cautious to make the attraction seem anything more than mutual admiration.

For the sharp-eyed reader, there’s an interesting reference in this book to Helma’s cousin Ruby, a subtle acknowledgement of author Dereske’s other series starring handwriting forgery expert Ruby Crane.

Although this is an enjoyable book on its own, I do recommend the new reader start his/her association with the first Miss Zukas***. Begin at the beginning; Miss Zukas would approve.

--K. W. Becker