Bite the Hand / Death of Party

BITE THE HANDAlix comes to Gridley Nelson as a neighbor more than a policeman-their children are friends. She is being blackmailed over an indiscretion that occurred early in her marriage. Captain Nelson is in charge of Homicide so he shuttles her problem over to a colleague, who quickly determines that it is her husband Richard who is doing the blackmailing. This doesn't jibe with Nelson's take on the husband, but the evidence does point to him. Then Richard is struck by a taxi in a hit-and-run accident. That's when Nelson meets Lilith, Alix's friend, who comes to her rescue when Richard is whisked off to the hospital. However, Nelson suspects that this hit-and-run was planned, and that the real victim here might not be Alix... but Richard himself. DEATH OF THE PARTYIt's a snowy night, and while walking the streets after a terrific argument with his girlfriend, Matt is knocked down by a car. The driver insists on taking him with her. She drops him off at a doctor's office where there is a party going on. Avoiding the merriment, Matt finds himself in a back room where there is a body laid out. But this body did not die of natural causes. There is a scalpel plunged into his chest. And when Matt tries to alert the partygoers, they accuse him of being the murderer! After all, they were all friends of the deceased. What motive could they have? To the cops it looks open and shut. Only Gridley Nelson doubts Matt's guilt. But who could have killed the late, lamented partygoer-and why?

Pages: 296, Paperback, Stark House Press