Sixteen year old Sally Anders seems to have a normal life. She sings in the church choir, babysits, and has the occasional arguments with her younger brother. However, when she doesn't return home from baby sitting one night, a search is made. She is found raped and murdered by the home of the family that she was babysitting for.
The story is told in brief sequences of people's thoughts and reactions to Sally's murder. A common reaction after the grief and shock is "how could something like this happen in a town like ours?"
It tells a picture of life in a small town which has a factitious name but is actually Guilford, Connecticut where the author had lived and served office.
Waugh gives the reader a step by step account of what people were doing and how they relate to the murder. This approach doesn't give the reader any insight into Sally's thoughts and so there is no sympathy developed. It is more like reading the information in a newspaper account. In addition, there isn't much suspense in the book but it serves as one man's view of small town life.
The book was written in 1989 and that was the year that Hillary Waugh was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America.
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