William Mclaughlin

Beacon Hill Confidential: a Francis Fallon Mystery (Francis Fallon Mysteries) William Mclaughlin

Boston, 1951. Quixotic private eye, Francis Fallon is hired by an attractive Beacon Hill socialite, Martha Prendergast to find out with whom shes sharing her admiral husband, Roger. Fallon and his cynical new protege, Julie soon find Rogers mistress is one Helen Romescu, an ambitious Scollay Square bar girl. But the case is hardly closed when three days later she turns up dead with a bullet to the temple. Her roommate, Milly, a chorus girl at the Old Howard, believes its murder not suicide, and convinces Fallon to continue the investigation. Martha herself becomes the prime suspect when Fallon finds her diary hidden in the victims apartment, which describes Marthas bizarre secret sex life, giving Fallon possible blackmail as motive for murder. Espionage becomes part of the mix when a spy camera is also found in the apartment! To warn Fallon off the case, the killer blows up his Studebaker, kills his cat, Izzy, and kidnaps Milly. The police, mafia and FBI also want him off the case, but Fallons roller coaster is beyond the point-of-no-return, and he pursues it to its explosive conclusion in the crowded ballroom of the Imperial Hotel where the hunter becomes the prey.