Mandy is asked to look at the dry cleaning mark on a shirt worn by an unidentified man who was shot to death in an alley in downtown Denver. She recognizes it as a mark her uncle had used several years ago before she inherited his business. Mandy checks the old records and discovers the man is Jeremiah Atkins, an artist who disappeared seven years ago on his way to his uncle’s funeral, leaving his wife Rosalie behind.

Rosalie is still a client of Mandy’s and has become a casual friend over the years. Rosalie knows very little about her husband’s past, his friends, or even if he had any family. Mandy conveniently remembers that her uncle kept copious records, including his own credit application forms. Sure enough, Jeremiah had an account and listed his aunt Maxine’s name and telephone number in Trinidad, Colorado, as next of kin.

It is unclear as to why Mandy decides not to tell Stan about Jeremiah’s newly discovered family ties and only mentions it to Rosalie. In addition, it is odd that Mandy is so easily convinced to join Rosalie on the drive to Trinidad that very day. Although they discover Maxine’s phone number is no longer in use and are unsure if she still lives there, they leave late in the afternoon for a long drive in uncertain weather conditions. They are extremely lucky when they find Maxine on her way to work at a truck stop as a waitress. On the drive home, they are driven off the road by a trucker they recognize as having talked to Maxine earlier. She tops their suspect list until her dead body turns up in the same alley where Jeremiah was found.

The secondary characters provide some humor and hold up much better than the mystery. Mac, Mandy’s old friend and manager, plays the role of father figure and the voice of common sense, and Nat, her old junior high school friend and reporter, supplies her with inside information about her cases.

Betty, a former bag woman that Mandy has employed, befriended, and helped rehabilitate, is the most appealing character in the book. A particularly funny scene takes place when Betty informs Mandy about a homeless man called Honest Abe who lives on the street where the murders have taken place. Although he doesn’t talk, he communicates by gesturing, and Mandy assumes he is mute. So when Betty explains Honest Abe had called the police to tell them about the murder, Mandy is confused. Betty explains, “… he has to use his voice for that. It’s pretty hard to do pantomime on a telephone.” Then she looks at Mandy “as if maybe the reason (she) was having difficulty grasping this concept was because (her) wires didn’t quite connect to (her) receiver.”

As a rule of thumb, an amateur sleuth needs a good reason to be involved in an investigation, such as protecting themselves or a loved one from danger or imminent arrest. Other amateur sleuths have a special area of expertise that provides useful to the police. Mandy has no credible reason to be investigating this case, other than the vanity of beating the police to the punch or an uncontrollable nosiness.

It seemed surprising that Mandy chose to be more loyal to Rosalie, who isn’t a close friend and hasn’t been arrested for the crime, rather than supporting Stan’s legitimate investigation by providing information to him because they obviously still have feelings for each other. Her misplaced loyalty aside, Mandy does uncover numerous clues, although she doesn’t know what to do with them. She walks unknowingly right into the murderer’s path and her friends need to save her in the end.

Ms. Dyer writes a light and mildly amusing mystery with an out of the ordinary supporting cast. Unfortunately, Mandy’s soft heart and unthinking actions do not provide a sufficient motive for her to be involved in this murder investigation or for the plot to be believable. I hope Mandy has a better rationale to sleuth rather than snoop in the future.

--Monica Pope