Beauty Marks the Spot

 Beauty Marks the Spot (1948) by Kelley Roos [Jeff & Haila Troy #8.1]

Halia Troy finds herself in the middle of some very ugly adventures at a beauty school when she responds to a plea for help from a friend of a friend. Susan Harris works at the Burton Sisters School of Beauty, a tall building with a roof-top area for sun bathing and exercises. Natalie Burton, one of sisters, has recently died in a fall from the roof that has been ruled a suicide. But Susan doesn't believe it. She's certain that someone helped Natalie over the edge and she wants Halia to sign up as a beauty school student and do some sleuthing. 

Halia hasn't even finished her first day as a student before she finds evidence that Susan is right, is warned off of sleuthing by Alice Burton, and...later finds Alice Burton dead from a fall very similar to her sister's. Halia's husband Jeff and Lieutenant Hankins arrive on the scene and the three of them soon find evidence that points in the direction of the new owner of the school, Alice's husband Tom Thorpe. But then more clues turn up and it's anybody's guess who the culprit is. And then...Halia realizes the significance of one of the very first pieces of evidence and finds herself racing to avoid becoming victim number three.

This is short little novella, published in Dell's 10 cent book editions, but Roos (husband & wife team of Audrey Kelley Roos & William Roos) does a great job packing a lot into the tiny book. There are the two deaths. Halia is nearly strangled to death and then is chased again by the killer. There's the mystery of the torn piece of fabric and the photo of a known bad boy found among Natalie's things. There's the question of the ten thousand dollar check Natalie wrote shortly before she died. And a debate whether a certain person is near-sighted or not and whether Tom Thorpe really did stay for an entire theater performance. There's a lot going on, but none of it feels rushed and it's all important to the plot. I thoroughly enjoyed my short little visit with the Troys and my namesake, the lieutenant. ★★★★

First line: The first symptom that this was to be an unusual day came when the alarm clock went off.

Last line: "No," Jessica said. "No, he isn't."

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Deaths = two fell from height

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