Deadly Admirer

The second appearance of Kate Kinsella, introduced in Deadly Errand , finds the English nurse/PI in the hire of fellow nurse, Vanessa Wootten, who tells Kate she is being stalked. Kate's landlord and friend Hubert, a funeral director, warns her to be wary of the reputedly neurotic Vanessa, who has been admitted to the hospital for a drug overdose and who claims that a former lover, police officer Paul Oakby, raped her. An elderly patient of Vanessa dies, and Kate finds an ambiguous message implicating Vanessa written on the old woman's mirror. Kate follows up on the list of suspects Vanessa gives her, but finds that none is capable of tailing the woman, including the fiance of Vanessa's estranged sister, who was incapacitated in a car accident two years before. After Oakby is killed and the message ``You Next, V'' is found nearby, Vanessa vanishes, leaving Kate struggling to reassess her evidence in order to save her client's life. Kate's quixotic manner is tempered by Hubert's dourness, making the two an interesting pair to watch. (Dec.)