Having sold her ranch, Shirley McClintock has invested her money in Rancho del Valle, a collection of bunkhouses that she and JQ intend to rent out to holidaymakers. When one of her guests is taken ill late one night Shirley and JQ take her to the hospital. When the guest later dies, Shirley searches the bunkhouse for evidence of the woman's identity but there is no trace. No personal effects. It is as though the woman never existed.

Despite the woman's tragic death the remaining visitors seem unaffected. However, when the family of her ward, Allison, suddenly contact her professing a sudden familial concern for their young relative Shirley begins to wonder if their concern is completely genuine. Why have they decided, after so many months, to try and rebuild a relationship with Allison? Surely there must be some ulterior motive.

Will Shirley find out the truth behind the death of the mysterious guest? Will she be able to keep custody of Allison or will the courts see fit to place her back with her family? Only time will tell.

Yes, it is official. Shirley McClintock is a corpse-magnet. It doesn't matter if she is working her ranch or reinventing herself as the owner of a holiday ranch. If there is going to be a murder then you can guarantee that Shirley will find herself in the thick of it!

It also seems that wherever she goes, the local police force is rather ineffectual. Somehow the only person that ever knows how to investigate a murder is Shirley! I know that the whole point of these stories is that Shirley solves the mystery but to be honest, if any of the police described in these books had worked for the same force as my father they would have been sacked years ago!!!

Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to make it sound as though I don't enjoy the Shirley McClintock mysteries. I love them. I tend to save them for a bit of a treat, to be read when I have battled my way through a particularly hard-going novel. Suppose that Conan-Doyle wouldn't have become such a best-selling author if Sherlock Holmes hadn't been such a super-sleuth!

My only concern is that there only seem to be about half a dozen Shirley McClintock mysteries and, having already read at least 5 of them, I am rapidly running out of "treat-books".

I am a sucker for a good murder-mystery and these books definitely feed my addiction!!!