Closely Akin to Murder — Joan Hess

A chilling phone call from a cousin thought dead for thirty years sends bookseller and amateur sleuth Claire Malloy off on what may be a wild goose chase--or a hunt that may make her a sitting duck for a killer. Veronica "Ronnie" Landonwood is phoning from Chicago to ask Claire for help in tracking down a blackmailer who threatens to expose her past. Once in jail for murder, Ronnie has rehabilitated herself into a prestigious scientist with a shot at a Nobel prize--unless her sordid past hits the tabloids.

Claire begins her investigation in Acapulco, where, as a teenager, Ronnie killed a famous Hollywood producer who tried to rape her. The winding road into the past leads Claire toward a truth about the murder night. In fact, its reverberations are still being felt--as body after dead body pops up wherever Claire asks a few leading questions.