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Murder Was a Stranger

Peggy Swager
Treble Heart Books/WhoooDoo Mysteries (2007)
ISBN 9781932695540
Reviewed by Audrey Larson for Rebeccas Reads (3/08)

The main character of the book is Kate Summers, a policewoman, divorced mother of two, with a Jack Russell Terrier named Cookie.  Cookie has an attitude and a polka-dot ear, which stands up.  Cookie is modeled after the author's own Cookie. Cookie adds a little warmth, humor and cuteness to the book. The book is written in the first person (Kate), and sounds almost like a diary.

Kate's next-door neighbor is constantly on call to babysit her children, any time of the day or night, whenever she needs him.  (That is not believable!) Kate spends the entire book investigating who killed an older woman who lived in a mansion.  Since nobody seemed to like the woman (Ethel), Kate has a lot of suspects to interview. 

Ethel seemed to be harsh, critical and abrasive toward everyone, including her own brother, Ed.  Why Ethel destroyed Ed’s plans for marriage and happiness is unknown, except to herself.  It turns out that Ethel has some skeletons in her closet.  Some of the relationships turn out to be quite different than what they seemed to be. 

The cause of death appears to be poison, but repeated tests turn up no concrete evidence, and Kate keeps pursuing every little detail and motive.  Along the way, Kate tries to keep her personal feelings apart from her involvement with some of the suspects, but it is difficult.  Kate begins to suspect that the murderer is someone she cares about--which still could be several people--and she tries to maintain professionalism in her investigations. 

Kate also begins to wonder if some crimes “should” remain unsolved because the murderer may be an otherwise “good” person in the community.  And she thinks if every person who did something wrong was arrested, the jails would be full to overflowing and the streets would be bare of people.  So, in “Murder Was a Stranger,” Kate is having a bit of a moral dilemma, and goes jogging to clear her thinking on how to proceed. Kate eventually figures everything out, and it is personally difficult for her.  But she is a mother and a conscientious policewoman, and you just know she will cope.

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