Karen is spending her day preparing for a date with her special guy. Meanwhile, as she listens to the radio, there are updates about The Strangler who is terrorizing the city, and he's just killed his sixth victim. This was an extremely enjoyable, fast-paced short story with romance and mystery. I loved that the story was set in the 1940s. Such a fun little read. ( )

Entertaining mystery with a killer the newspapers are calling "The Strangler" who has killed six women, using a silk scarf and leaving it at the scene of the crime each time...

The story was very short (26 pages) and easy to read. I thoroughly enjoyed it! I especially liked the 40's setting, with references/or mentions of old movie stars like Ann Sheridan and movies, like "Spellbound". The book really captured the flavor of the 40's. The talk, the descriptions. I found the characters likable and I was really drawn into the story. I was curious to find out who The Strangler was.

A charming mystery-suspense story. ( )

Underwood takes the reader back to the 1940s with this wonderful, short, noir mystery. For someone who didn’t live in the time period, his writing is so realistic, capturing the flavor of the times and the nuisance of language so remarkably, you feel like you’ve traveled back in time.

The story revolves around Karen, who I fell for immediately.

“...she was sweet, and couldn’t help it. She had been around the bases a time or two, but each time only because her radar had failed her; she had believed that she was going to play for that team exclusively her entire career.”

I don’t know how Underwood packs so much atmosphere and story into such a small package, but I’m so pleased that he does. Not only is he a superb storyteller, he always manages to include so many references to things I love. There’s baseball here (a great love of my life). Karen remembers listening to Yankee games on the radio with her grandfather. There are also plenty of references to the popular music of the time, which only adds to the rich atmosphere and enjoyment.
This was one of the best short stories I’ve ever read. Nostalgic, masterfully written, and just plain fun.

“Life is just wonderful sometimes, and it was these times a girl had to hang onto.” ( )