This is book one of what is currently a six book series. Shaber, from North Carolina, writes about  Louise Pearlie, from North Carolina, who moves to Washington to work as a file clerk for the OSS during World War II. Having been elevated to supervising clerk, she has access to thousands of classified documents and discovers one involving her best friend, a Jew in trouble in France.

That story line blends into the murder down the hall from her office. Needless to say, Louise eventually uncovers the murderer.

While the story is a cozy, Shaber paints a good picture of life in the capital in those years. Thousands of men and women moved to a city built for half as many and had to struggle just of find a place to live and eat. Fortunately, the sugar ration did not include Coca-Cola and Hershey, so for ten cents, Louise could have both.

Mike Lawrence