Dial Me for Murder

Table of Contents

 

 

Praise for the Paige Turner Mysteries

“Paige is a delightful, irresistible, funny, and charming sleuth. She is witty and observant and Abby makes the perfect Watson to assist her. I found Amanda Matetsky’s knowledge of life in the 1950s interesting and informative . . . I enjoyed this book for its wit and likable characters. A good read with some good laughs.” —
Gumshoe Review

 
“It is refreshing to be back in a time where good, old-fashioned gumshoeing got the work done. Paige is a believable heroine whose teeth-gritting in the light of being a working girl in a man’s world will make the blood of any woman boil, while her antics with her free-spirited neighbor will have you laughing! This is a delightful book and every mystery reader will love to read on.” —
Roundtable Reviews

 
“Lively characters, loads of offbeat charm, and spirited hijinks . . . What makes this book fun is Paige’s saucy narrative voice . . . Amanda Matetsky invests her heroine with enough pluck, sincerity, and charm to make this an entertaining ride.” —
Habitual Reader

 
“[The] banter is delightful and quick and moves the story along at a fast clip . . . From the first line to the last, the action never stops . . . The tale is pert and funny. I enjoyed the characters for their freshness and enthusiasm.” —
MyShelf.com

 
HOW TO MARRY A MURDERER

“The author has successfully evoked the spirit of the people and the times of the 1950s and New York. The characters are delightful, especially Paige, who is hardworking, energetic, clever, and funny.” —
MyShelf.com

“A rich and satisfying story.”

—
The Romance Readers Connection

 
“This book grabbed me and held me right to the end.”

—
Roundtable Reviews

 
MURDER IS A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND

“December 1954 in Manhattan is a trip down memory lane and Amanda Matetsky captures the ambience of the era to perfection. The heroine’s friend Abby makes a perfect crime-solving partner and some of their adventures are funny. Readers will thoroughly enjoy
Murder Is a Girl’s Best Friend
because of Paige, Abby, and 1950s New York.”

—
Midwest Book Review

 
“This book is a great example of fun fiction that uses much of the style of film noir . . . Paige is a clever, interesting heroine who’s well-balanced by her Bohemian artist neighbor, Abby. This is an excellent book to read in any venue because it immediately transports the reader to New York in 1954.”

—
The Best Reviews

 
MURDERERS PREFER BLONDES

“A beautifully realized evocation of time and place; 1950s New York City comes alive for those of us who were there and even those who weren’t. Amanda Matetsky has created a very funny and interesting female protagonist, Paige Turner, and put her in the repressed and male-dominated year of 1954, which works like a charm. This is more than a murder mystery; this is great writing by a fresh talent.”

—Nelson DeMille, author of
Wild Fire

 
“Prepare to be utterly charmed by the irrepressible Paige Turner, and take an enchanting trip back in time to New York City, circa 1954 . . . A thoroughly fun read.”

—Dorothy Cannell, author of
Goodbye, Ms. Chips

“Amanda Matetsky has created a wonderfully sassy character in the unfortunately named Paige Turner. In her 1950s world where gals are peachy and cigarettes dangle from the lips of every private dick, a busty platinum blonde finds herself at the wrong end of a rope and Paige is on the case of a swell whodunit, sweetheart. Delightfully nostalgic and gripping. Irresistible.”

—Sarah Strohmeyer, author of
Bubbles All the Way

 
“A great idea well-executed—funny, fast, and suspenseful.”

—Max Allan Collins, author of
Road to Perdition

 
“
Murderers Prefer Blondes
is a gas; full of vivid characters and so sharp in its depiction of the fifties when you read it you’ll feel like you’re sipping champagne in the Copacabana.”

—Betsy Thornton, author of
A Whole New Life

 
“Paige Turner is the liveliest, most charming detective to emerge in crime fiction in a long time. She is the product of her time and place—New York in the fifties—with a little Betty Boop and a little Brenda Starr in her makeup, but she is also her own woman, funny, smart, energetic, brave, hardworking, and determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. She is irresistible, a force of nature.”

—Ann Waldron, author of
The Princeton Impostor

 
“Matetsky adeptly captures the atmosphere of the 1950s, and her characters—especially Paige and her friend Abby— are a delight. This journey back to a time that now seems innocent is refreshing.” —
Romantic Times

 
“A fun new mystery series . . . A real page-turner.”

—
BookBrowser

 
“A fast-paced, smart debut with a feisty heroine that entertains and keeps readers eagerly turning Paiges.”

—
The Mystery Reader

MURDERERS PREFER BLONDES
MURDER IS A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND
HOW TO MARRY A MURDERER
MURDER ON A HOT TIN ROOF
DIAL ME FOR MURDER

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
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Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

 
DIAL ME FOR MURDER

 
A Berkley Prime Crime Book / published by arrangement with the author

 
PRINTING HISTORY
Berkley Prime Crime mass-market edition / September 2008

 
Copyright © 2008 by Amanda Matetsky.

 
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form
without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in
violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

eISBN : 978-0-425-22050-4

 
BERKLEY® PRIME CRIME
Berkley Prime Crime Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
The name BERKLEY PRIME CRIME and the BERKLEY PRIME CRIME design are trademarks
belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

 

 

For the readers who’ve stuck with me
from the first Paige to the last

Acknowledgments

I am infinitely grateful for the support (and tolerance) of my family and friends—especially Harry Matetsky
¹
, Molly Murrah, Liza, Tim, Tara, and Kate Clancy, Ira Matetsky, Matthew Greitzer, Rae and Joel Frank, Sylvia Cohen, Mary Lou and Dick Clancy, Susan Frank, Ann Waldron, Nelson DeMille, Dianne Francis, Art Scott, Betsy Thornton, Santa and Tom De Haven, Nikki and Bert Miller, Herta Puleo, Esther and Harold Schoenhorn, Marte Cameron, Sandra Thompson and Chris Sherman, Cameron Joy, Donna and Michael Steinhorn, Stephanie and Burt Klein, Lois and Eric Rosenthal, Mark Voger, Gayle Rawlings and Debbie Marshall, Judy Capriglione, Martha Cevasco, Judy Dini, Betty Fitzsimmons, Nancy Francese, Jane Gudapati, Carleen Kierce, April Margolin, Doris Schweitzer, Carol Smith, Roberta Waugh, and her right-hand man, St. Joe.

The Lovely/Lively Literacy Ladies—Julia Berkowitz, Anne DuPrey, Carole Edwards, Demetria Muldaur, and Marilyn Tinter—are the most literate (and amusing) friends a writer could ask for. And my co-agents, Annelise Robey and Meg Ruley of the Jane Rotrosen Agency, and my new editor at Berkley, Kate Seaver, are the skillful, cheerful (and patient!) ones who make it all happen. Many thanks to one and all.

Prologue

LIFE IS JUST A DREAM, THEY SAY, BUT LATELY mine has been more like a nightmare. Shocking, sweaty, and horrifying—filled with visions and demons so ugly and evil they’d cause even the bravest soul to wake up screaming. You may think I’m exaggerating, but let me assure you I’m not. I’ve experienced things in the past few days no woman should ever have to endure . . . or even know about.

But don’t worry—I’m going to tell you about it anyway.

That is, after all, what I do. For a living, I mean. I tell stories. True stories. And unfortunately for me (and most of the other pitiful, or in some cases abominable, characters you’ll soon meet if you keep on reading), the tale I’m about to tell is as factual as it is frightful.

But first, a few facts about me. . . .

(Sorry, but I have to give you some background information, you know! I need to explain a few things about my peculiar life—and some of the peculiar people who populate my peculiar life—so that you can understand how I got caught up in the aforementioned nightmare, and why I’m compelled to tell you all about it now. Please bear with me. The following introductory details will lay the groundwork for the disturbing story to come, and help you separate the good guys from the bad guys . . . well, sort of, anyway.)

My name is Paige Turner (no laughing or groaning or rolling eyes, please!), and I’m an investigative reporter for a popular true crime magazine,
Daring Detective.
At this particular point in time—Wednesday, October 19, 1955—I’m the only female crime reporter in all of Manhattan . . . probably even the whole country. And you can take it from me, that’s a darn scary place for a woman to be (even when she’s
not
in the process of probing into and writing about the most abhorrent murder scandal she’s ever encountered in her short but stressful career).