
Part of Series
Two heist men wanted for double homicide... the body of a young punk in an allly.. the corpse of a girl in the dry riverbed... in fact, everything more or less routine for Lt. Luis Mendoza and his colleagues in the Los Angeles Police Department. and then they got the news... The murdered girl was a police-woman of fine standing- one of their very own. This is the 13th in the series of Luis Mendoza mysteries, each more baffling and absorbing than the last.
Author

Pseudonym of Elizabeth Linington. Barbara "Elizabeth" Linington (March 11, 1921 – April 5, 1988) was an American novelist. She was awarded runner-up scrolls for best first mystery novel from the Mystery Writers of America for her 1960 novel, Case Pending, which introduced her most popular series character, LAPD Homicide Lieutenant Luis Mendoza. Her 1961 book, Nightmare, and her 1962 novel, Knave of Hearts, another entry in the Mendoza series, were both nominated for Edgars in the Best Novel category. Regarded as the "Queen of the Procedurals," she was one of the first women to write police procedurals—a male-dominated genre of police-story writing. Besides crime, Linington also took interest in archaeology, the occult, gemstones, antique weapons and languages. Linington was also a conservative political activist who was an active member of the John Birch Society