Protectors

Set in the neighborhood surrounding the University of California in July of 1969, a few weeks after Governor Reagan’s decision to drop tear gas from National Guard helicopters onto the center of Berkeley, Nelscott’s engrossing novel is rich in period details and goes far beyond peace signs, pot, and patchouli. Casual sexism and racism are the norm, heated political differences divide families, and martial law is an acceptable response to peaceful protests. She focuses on three characters: June “Eagle” Eagleton, a former battlefield nurse in Vietnam; Pammy Griffin, owner of a women-only gym; and Valentina Wilson, who has moved to Berkeley to start a new life. (Readers of Nelscott’s series featuring PI Smokey Dalton—Street Justice, etc.—have already met Val.) The novel opens with Eagle witnessing the abduction of a young woman. When the police refuse to take the matter seriously, she, Pammy, and Val start their own investigation and discover that the kidnapping is not an isolated incident. Nelscott expertly mixes history and mystery, and readers will be happy that she intends to write more books about these distinctive people and eventful times. (Oct.)