Kill the Messenger - Softcover

Squire, Elizabeth Daniels

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312924364 ISBN 13: 9780312924362

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1991

Synopsis

In Elizabeth Daniels Squire's first mystery, a legendary newspaper publisher's bourbon has been laced with cyanide. Because he had dirt on just about everyone, there is no shortage of suspects. His son must find the killer before the deadline runs out and the paper is sold to a shady conglomerate.  This is Squire's only mystery NOT starring her absent-minded sleuth Peaches Dann.  For the Peaches Dann mysteries, go to her author's page by clicking on her name above.

About this title

About the Author:

Award-winning mystery writer Elizabeth Daniels Squire was born into a world of words. Her grandfather, father and one of her aunts were successful authors, but still writing did not come easily to her. Due to a lifelong struggle with dyslexia, schoolwork presented her with great difficulties. Yet, gifted with resilience and a desire to succeed, Elizabeth found ways to cope with her disability and chose a career in journalism. As a reporter she covered murder trials and as a nationally syndicated columnist she wrote about the character and talents revealed in the hands of top celebrities in her classic palmistry how-to book Fortune In Your Hand. But it's her mysteries for which she is best known. Elizabeth drew on her own experiences when writing her mysteries. The idea for her first book came from her grandfather who was shot at by someone upset by one of his editorials. In his case, the murder didn't happen; but in Kill the Messenger (her first mystery, and only one not starring her absent-minded sleuth, Peaches Dann) a newspaper publisher is murdered. 
Another of her books, Forget About Murder, was based on the fact that her grandmother hid a still in her attic for a neighbor who moonshining in order to feed his children. One of her dog's tricks gave her the idea for The Dog Who Remembered Too Much, the short story for which she won the prestigious Agatha Award. 
Throughout her career, rather than hiding from her dyslexia, she embraced it. Peaches Dann, the sleuth who stars in most of her mysteries, suffers from an extraordinarily poor memory and is forced to find creative ways to overcome her forgetfulness in order to solve her cases.
Elizabeth lived with her husband on an organic farm in the mountains of western North Carolina, where her books are set. She died in February 2001 returning from a book promotion tour to Alaska. In November 2006, she was the first mystery author ever inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame.

From Publishers Weekly:

Isaiah Justice, feisty editor and publisher of the crusading Southern newspaper The Defender , has been murdered, his favorite bourbon laced with cyanide. A network of suspicious events is quickly uncovered by Isaiah's energetic, fearless son Howard who, in this brisk and sometimes manic mystery, heads off in all directions to find the killer. Some signs point to the sinister Gemtrex Corporation, a mammoth newspaper chain with ties to the Mafia; Gemtrex has been making serious buyout attempts on The Defender . But other clues point to any number of vengeful local residents, insulted, injured or seduced by Isaiah over the years. Suspicion is even cast on Howard's chronically bickering siblings, all of whom had reasons to despise their strong-willed father. Howard, along with his father's former mistress, Suzanne, and Leroy, the paper's ambitious investigative reporter, spare no one in tracking down every lead--and eventually discover that Isaiah was being blackmailed over an obscure but potentially damaging incident buried in the past. Journalist and first-time novelist Squire pulls out all the stops and unleashes explosions, floods and unbridled passion in crafting a tale that, while leaving some ends loose, is forceful and engrossing.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0312924364
• ISBN 13: 9780312924362
• Binding: Paperback