Kate Fallon is twenty-six and still lives with her parents and younger siblings near the Schuylkill River in Robinsville, PA. Though she sorely misses her G. I. fiancé, Kate is a perky, positive girl and keeps busy volunteering at the local Victory Dance and taking her kid brother to the picture show on Friday nights.

Kate is shocked when the police chief calls on her after the dance to relay the sad news that a her friend, Nancy Edinger, has been found murdered. Kate reluctantly relays that Nancy was upset over a quarrel with her boyfriend Freddy, but had agreed to meet him later that night. Kate then feels guilty when Freddy is suspected of the murder, since she’s known him from grade school and knows he would never have hurt Nancy. Could Nancy’s death possibly be related to another local death four months prior during a burglary? And come to think of it, haven’t there been a lot of burglaries in town lately?

The Chief assures Kate she’s been reading one too many mysteries. She is soon distracted by more immediate woes when her employer’s furniture store goes up in flames one night, along with her job.

The body count increases, including a retired teacher bludgeoned to death in his kitchen. A little genteel snooping by Kate reveals he was writing a manuscript for a mystery based on an unsolved murder. Clever Kate reads the manuscript, figures out the mystery and, with much help, sets a trap for the murderer.

This short book is a quick read though it may be just a bit too “gee willikers!” for some tastes. If you remember when trips were by train and a big event was the weekly changing of the theater marquee, chances are you’ll enjoy the memories The Victory Dance Murder will evoke, and the haphazard mystery won’t distract.

--K. W. Becker