Barbara Becker

Municipal Mayhem Barbara Becker

The second book in the Allison Palmer mystery series, "Municipal Mayhem" finds newly retired Allison pulled back into the maelstrom of New York City government. A call from the commissioner of her former agency, the NYC Youth Authority, invites her to act as consultant on a major project. Allison can see no sane reason to accept, but when close friend and former colleague, Daisy Norfolk, warns her not to get involved, Allison can't help herself. Reassuring herself she's only going to satisfy her curiosity and then step back from the "One Stop" project, she accepts the job. As the result, she is drawn into a web of murder and high stakes financial and political double dealing. The threads of that web stretch back into the turbulent 1960's, a time when the fabric of society was frayed by the struggle for civil and human rights. Allison finds herself reconnecting with Billy Lawton, former angry activist and co- worker, now unimaginably transformed. The story twists and turns its way through City Hall meetings, interaction with a high profile charitable foundation and ugly murders until it reaches its unexpected conclusion.