All Concerned Notified — Helen Reilly

THERE WAS A Body in Room 1008

She was lying face down -- and very dead -- when Inspector McKee first saw her. A plain middle-aged woman with dark hair and glasses, she had been struck over the head repeatedly with a hammer.

She wore only a kimono and for a woman in her late forties her body was surprisingly sensuous and firm. Her legs were long and shapely -- too shapely for her age. Then McKee saw the blonde roots beneath the coarse brown hair. His hands rubbed at the dark make-up covering her face and her skin emerged wrinkle-free and soft.

Who was she? Why had she made herself look twenty years older? McKee wanted answers.