Synopses & Reviews
In "Short Cut", the third book in Jo Dereske's exciting series (after Savage Cut, 11/96 and Cut and Dry, 10/97) featuring handwriting analyst and amateur sleuth Ruby Crane, family obligations pull Ruby into a mystery surrounding her estranged sister.
It's March in Sable Michigan, and Ruby Crane has nothing to look forward to but a month of dirty snow, mud, and cabin fever -- and if that's not bad enough, her estranged older sister Phyllis -- a successful and beautiful engineer -- has arrived in town for an unannounced visit, and she's asking for Ruby's help.
Phyllis's last project -- designing a spillway for a mineral mining company -- ended in disaster when some kids homing around after hours climbed into the spillway and it collapsed beneath them, causing the death of one teenager. Their families are suing Phyllis, claiming that her flawed design was responsible for the death; and Phyllis needs to prove that the blueprints the mining company have in their possession are forgeries. Only Ruby's expert opinion as a graphologist can prove Phyllis's innocence.
Synopsis
They were sisters separated by distance, hurt and secrets. Now murder is bringing them together....
It was a long way from northern Michigan to the mountains above Albuquerque. But the distance between Ruby Crane and her glamorous, successful sister, Phyllis, was even greater. Until Phyllis trekked through the Michigan snow in her designer boots to beg Ruby for help. And while Ruby knew there were some things she couldn't help her sister with--like her drinking--she couldn't say no to a matter of life and death.
A boy had died on a construction site, and Phyllis, the engineer on the project, was being blamed--for a design she claimed someone had altered. While Ruby, an expert in handwriting analysis, tries to find out if the designs are forgeries, a sudden, vicious murder changes everything. Now a stalker is lurking around Phyllis's once-elegant life. And for the two sisters, the time has come for unspoken words--and a fight for both of their lives....