M. J. Zellnik takes us back to 1890s Portland, Oregon, when horse-drawn carriages crowded the busy streets. The booming city offers refuge to Libby Seale who has fled New York and an abusive husband. As a seamstress for the prominent Rose family, she's one of the first to learn that her boss Hiram Rose has been killed -- mangled to death by machinery at his own paper mill! Minutes later, the distraught family is shocked to see a healthy Mr. Rose sauntering through the front door. A suspect is locked up, but attempts on Mr. Rose's life continue mercilessly. Once again, Libby and reporter Peter Eberle team up to unmask the culprit. It takes every ounce of will power to ignore the dazzling attraction they feel for one another. Can they manage to find the killer without giving into love's sweet temptation? Libby Seale, the intrepid seamstress featured in Murder at the Portland Variety (2005), now has a job with the prominent Rose family in Portland, Oregon. When Hiram Rose, the not-so-beloved family patriarch, is found dead, mangled in the machinery at his paper mill, there is no shortage of suspects. He had recently fired most of his workers and hired Chinese immigrants. As the family copes with the tragedy, Hiram walks through the front door, very much alive, but subsequent attempts on his life show that the threat continues. Libby, partnering again with reporter Peter Eberle, begins to investigate. The growing attraction between the amateur sleuths complicates matters, as Libby is still married to the abusive husband she left in New York. This series effectively captures the vibrant atmosphere of a growing western city as the twentieth century dawns. The novel also raises issues that are as timely today as they were when Libby and Peter were investigating: immigration, fair labor practices, business corruption, and spousal abuse. This first-rate historical series deserves a wider audience. Barbara Bibel Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Zellnik s second look at life in turn-of-the-century Portland provides historical interest along with strong characters and a solid mystery. -- Kirkus Aug. 15, 2006 The hustle and bustle of 1890s Portland, Oregon makes it the perfect place to lose your past and start a new life, as beautiful, unconventional Libby Seale knows all too well. As a seamstress for the prominent Rose family, Libby is one of the first to learn that her boss, Hiram Rose has been killed; mangled to death by machinery at his own paper mill -- or has he? Once again, Libby and reporter Peter Eberle team up to solve the mystery. As they work to untangle the Rose family secrets, Libby and Peter struggle with the complexities of their own relationship -- and the knowledge that, until Libby is free from her past, the dazzling attraction they feel for one another must be denied. A native of New York City, M. J. Zellnik was seduced by Portland's beauty and colorful history after an initial stay in 1995. She enjoyed learning more about her adopted home while writing Murder at the Portland Variety, her first novel, and is currently at work on a second Libby Seale adventure. When not traveling, she divides her time between New York and Portland. prologue Portland, Oregon. March, 1894. The sun had been up less than two hours, and already Andrew Matson knew it was going to be a terrible day. One of the two revolving boilers was coughing, and it looked like he'd have to take the damn thing out of commission for at least thirty-six hours. Or maybe longer. It took that long just for it to cool down enough to get inside and see what the problem was, and they were understaffed again. It was this new staff, he thought with a grimace. You just couldn't count on them to show up on a regular basis. Six of 'em were out today, and he didn't even know which six, since one looked just like the next to his eyes. Even after two months supervising his Chinese workforce, they all looked the same to him. Striding across the cement floor of the Rose Paperworks, Matson gazed out over the sea of glossy black hair and once more cursed his boss's decision to replace real Americans with this cheap-as-dirt foreign labor. He was glad to see that at least the main boiler had sputtered to life. As he passed, he watched two men toss the first rags of the day into its steaming confines. He was on his way to deal with the third and, by far, the most serious problem of the morning. Something was wrong with the hollander, the heart of the mill. A giant steel cylinder lined with rotating knife blades, the hollander could turn stripped rags into a thick paste suitable for boiling in less than three minutes. Usually it whirred and hummed all day, providing a background drone to everything else that happened in the mill, but this morning, just after the whistle marking the start of the workday had sounded, it had rasped a few times and stopped with a grinding metallic groan. Matson thought there wa