True-Life Adventure — Julie Smith

Paul McDonald was upset: first his boss drops dead in his living room, then someone breaks into his home and later torches it. How is he supposed to write a bestselling mystery surrounded by all this crime?

Paul worked part-time for Jack Birnbaum, rewriting the San Francisco R L's reports into legibility. Apparently, the current crime spree is connected to one of the P. l.'s cases. Birnbaum's last report concerned a kidnapped child, so Paul begins there, using the skills and nosiness he developed as a journalist. The trail leads him to the laboratory of a Nobel laureate geneticist and then to City Hall where an extremely nasty surprise awaits. The only nice thing that happens is meeting the lovely Sardis. She is everything Paul could want ... but why is she kissing one of the prime suspects?

As Paul dodges the murderous designs of a shadowy enemy, he has to wonder: will he wind up not only dead but also the only mystery writer named McDonald to remain unpublished?