From Publishers Weekly
She's feisty, independent and aggressive, and in her third appearance (after By Evil Means) Phoebe Siegel, a Billings, Mont., PI, is the driving force in a mystery that never lets up. Potential gubernatorial candidate Bob Maitland has asked Phoebe to look into the 25-year-old unsolved murder of his wife, heiress Ellen Dahl Maitland. Phoebe, often uncannily prescient, correctly assumes that the glib and opportunistic pol has another agenda and, instead, agrees to help an impoverished parolee, Frank Chillman, whose sister, a prostitute, had been bludgeoned to death 24 hours after Ellen was murdered. Frank is convinced that the two killings are connected. Unfortunately, he's murdered before he can speak further with Phoebe. But Phoebe, with grit and considerable courage (she barely escapes several murder attempts), pieces together a string of pungent interviews that suggest a long-lived and sinister conspiracy. Her wide circle of friends (Maggie, an earthy lawyer; deputy sheriff Kyle Old Wolf, an intriguing romantic prospect; Dougie, a repellent but valuable snitch) are energetic and vividly portrayed. Her fractious but caring Catholic-Jewish family fills her with just the right amount of guilt. This mystery, nicely balanced between wit and terror, owes much to its outspoken heroine, whose motto, "Investigations with an Attitude," says it all. Mystery Guild featured alternate; author tour. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Approached by a well-known gubernatorial candidate-to-be, series sleuth Phoebe Siegel, last seen in The Killing of Mandy Brown (LJ 4/1/94), considers investigating the years-old unsolved murder of the man's errant heiress wife. She soon uncovers ties to another murder. Sudden violence follows each discovery, especially when Phoebe pursues the political angle. Well-written prose, surprising complications, and a tough heroine in tough terrain. Highly recommended.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Bob Maitland is preparing his run for the governorship of Montana, but there's a nagging little detail in his past: 27 years ago, his wife was brutally murdered. He hires private investigator Phoebe Siegel to find the killer, but Siegel senses an ulterior motive--the candidate may be using the murder to generate sympathy. When a man who claims to have information about the killing is himself murdered, and Siegel is the target of a sniper's bullet, it's clear that someone doesn't want the killer found. The third Siegel novel builds steadily on the promise of the first two. It's a portrait of a modern single woman as well as a mystery. Siegel has to cope with her loneliness, her own family crises, and her growing fondness for a local cop. In addition, she feels a sisterly empathy for the murder victim, who deserved a better fate than to be remembered only in terms of a tawdry political campaign nearly three decades after the terror of her death. Siegel has become an outstanding heroine, and this is her finest outing yet. Wes Lukowsky

From Kirkus Reviews
Billings, Montana, during a killer winter is the setting of this third Phoebe Siegel outing (The Killing of Monday Brown, 1994, etc.), with the contemporary West once again providing a charismatic venue for violence. Gubernatorial candidate Bob Maitland approaches p.i. Siegel before the upcoming election: He hopes to clear his reputation once and for all of the murder of his wealthy wife, found prostitutionally clad and terminally battered in a motel of ill-repute 27 years before. Phoebe soon parts ways with Maitland, a self-serving sleaze, but now--fortified by independent means to accompany her independent attitude--she pursues without client the case of the enigmatic Ellen Dahl Maitland, heiress to old money and old evil. Gathering information from an ex-con and a professional snitch--both soon murdered--and a retired madam who continues to thrive, Phoebe finally joins forces with her dad's old police partner. Her efforts will reveal the truth without quite achieving justice. Between professional challenges, however, Phoebe belts Nyquil and has scraps with mom, siblings, and boyfriend in a way that threatens to undercut a denouement with some of the majesty of Ross Macdonald. An overbusy story, with an overbearing heroine, is redeemed by genuine readability and wit--plus an atmosphere that makes it a natural between the covers. Prowell's tour of snow-blasted Billings puts it most colorfully on the map of our collective imagination. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Book Description
The intrepid Phoebe Siegel gets involved in the seamy side of Montana politics when she investigates the twenty-five year old murder of the wife of the man now running for governor. What Phoebe uncovers in the death of the young woman, a wallflower few mourned and fewer remember, is dangerously more than expected.

Challenged and threatened by what she's learned, Phoebe must also confront dramatic changes in her own life: her deepening relationship with Kyle Old Wolf, and her brother Michael's questions about his role as a priest. Even with her personal life in a whirl, Phoebe's persistence in the face of political adversity uncovers the truth.

This third novel in the Phoebe Siegel series firmly establishes Sandra West Prowell in the very top echelon of mystery writers. "The Killing of Monday Brown", the previous Phoebe Siegel Mystery, is also available from Brilliance Audio.

From the Publisher
"Phoebe [is] one of the most endearing private eyes in the genre....An exciting ride."
"Powerful...In the class of female private eyes, with outstanding authors such as Marcia Muller, Sue Grafton, and Sara Paretsky, Prowell now takes top marks."
"Phoebe's smart enough to track down the killer, tough enough to take a bullet, and still nice enough to retreat home to her mother to recuperate."
"A rip-roaring read."

FROM THE PUBLISHER

When Ellen Dahl Maitland's battered body was found in a hot-sheet motel, it created a minor scandal, the kind that Dahl money and power helped quiet quickly. A suspect was arrested: he skipped bond and was never heard from again. And there were those who thought Ellen's less-than-loving husband, Robert Maitland, might have had something to do with the murder, but nothing was ever proven. Still, the rumors were more than a petty annoyance, especially now that Maitland has decided to make his run for the governor's mansion. As he's done in the past Maitland sees an opportunity to make political hay out of Ellen's death and that's when he turns to Phoebe Siegel.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

She's feisty, independent and aggressive, and in her third appearance (after By Evil Means) Phoebe Siegel, a Billings, Mont., PI, is the driving force in a mystery that never lets up. Potential gubernatorial candidate Bob Maitland has asked Phoebe to look into the 25-year-old unsolved murder of his wife, heiress Ellen Dahl Maitland. Phoebe, often uncannily prescient, correctly assumes that the glib and opportunistic pol has another agenda and, instead, agrees to help an impoverished parolee, Frank Chillman, whose sister, a prostitute, had been bludgeoned to death 24 hours after Ellen was murdered. Frank is convinced that the two killings are connected. Unfortunately, he's murdered before he can speak further with Phoebe. But Phoebe, with grit and considerable courage (she barely escapes several murder attempts), pieces together a string of pungent interviews that suggest a long-lived and sinister conspiracy. Her wide circle of friends (Maggie, an earthy lawyer; deputy sheriff Kyle Old Wolf, an intriguing romantic prospect; Dougie, a repellent but valuable snitch) are energetic and vividly portrayed. Her fractious but caring Catholic-Jewish family fills her with just the right amount of guilt. This mystery, nicely balanced between wit and terror, owes much to its outspoken heroine, whose motto, "Investigations with an Attitude," says it all. Mystery Guild featured alternate; author tour. (July)

Library Journal