Book description
For Rachel Chavez, every day is a battle with her demons. She only
wants to stay sober and keep her recently inherited parking lot in
downtown LA financially afloat. It's nearly a 24/7 job. Then an
executive from the nearby water agency is killed by a hit-and-run driver
and Rachel spots the car that did the deed in her garage. A few days
later her stand-in employee dies of peculiar causes. And Rachel
unknowingly becomes tangled in the conniving cross-purposes of
California water politics. When she uncovers evidence of a crime ring,
Rachel believes the mystery of the two deaths is solved. But another
official is killed, her own father disappears, and it becomes
agonizingly clear that the killer is closing in on Rachel. An intrigue
centered on the water politics of Southern California promises high
tension and high stakes, but Rudolph (Listen to the Mockingbird) loses
sight of the big picture in her first mystery. The unusual
heroine-parking-garage proprietor Rachel Chavez-has many customers from
InterUrban, a major water company across the street in downtown L. A.
Soon after Rachel hears that Jason Karl, an InterUrban executive, has
been killed in a hit-and-run, she notices that a company car has a
suspicious dent. As she looks into this and other troubling facts, she's
joined by two other loners: Hank Sullivan, an appealing, quiet guy who
works for InterUrban, and Goldie, a tough-talking gal who runs a
cleaning business that services InterUrban. Goldie and crew come across
some interesting items at InterUrban, including a mysterious powder that
may be responsible for a second death, that of a young man who had
worked at the garage. An old family friend of Rachel's and an attractive
environmentalist help to broaden the story, but it never quite catches
fire. Penny Rudolph has worked as a bartender, truck driver, chili
picker, science writer, and medical writer. Shes taught high school and
college English, creative writing, and journalism.
