by Alan Cook
Synopsis
"I like the characters…as well as the Hotline for the setting.
This is a great mystery.”
Tony Schmidt joins the Central Hotline in sunny Bonita Beach,
California to improve his listening skills. Shahla Lawton
joins the Hotline to fulfill a volunteering requirement for
her high school. Neither one expects to get mixed up in a
murder investigation.
But that is before Shahla’s best friend, Joy, also a listener,
is murdered. Tony and Shahla discover that they are able to
uncover information that the police can’t. Information about
the “inappropriate” callers who haunt the Hotline, and
information about other people with a connection to the
Hotline who may have hidden motives to kill the beautiful Joy.
Questions arise. Will the murderer strike the Hotline again?
And if the murderer does strike again, will Shahla be the next
target?
Meet the Chameleon, a caller who assumes a different personality
each time he calls the Hotline. Some of the personalities
are female--and some are sinister. Or the minister at the Church
of the Risen Lord, who claims he knows exactly when the Rapture
will occur--the day of judgment when the faithful will be swept
up to heaven. Modern computer technology has provided him with the
answer. Or the poet who lives in Las Vegas and likes to play video
poker--and other things. And then there's Tony's roommate--a sexist
pig if there ever was one.
Tony and Shahla have harrowing adventures together in venues
ranging from Southern California to Las Vegas, as they try
to distinguish the annoying-but-harmless callers from the
dangerous, and figure out whether the murderer might just be
somebody not connected with the Hotline.
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