Mystery Women Authors
Pat Welch
Biography
Pat Welch was born in Japan in 1957. After returning to the US she grew up in an assortment of small towns in the south until her family relocated to Florida. Since attending college in Southern California she has lived on the West Coast, moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1986. Pat now lives and works in Oakland. Her short stories have appeared in several Naiad anthologies, including The Mysterious Naiad, The First Time Ever, and Lady Be Good.
Books
Helen Black Mysteries
Fallen From Grace
When downsized
corporate executive and closeted lesbian Leslie Merrick takes a nose dive from
an eighth-story window, the cops jump to the conclusion that her death is a
suicide. Hired by the dead woman's mother to clear her daughter's reputation,
Berkeley PI Helen Black discovers that the multinational conglomerate Merrick
worked for is rife with political patronage, corporate treachery, sexual harassment,
disgruntled employees, vindictive co-workers, and mysterious "vacations".
Although fallout from the investigation quickly puts the private eye at odds
with everyone from her new lover to her former police partner, she uncovers
nothing to indicate that Merrick's death was anything but self-inflicted. Could
the woman's fall have been accidental? Or is Helen Black being set up to take
the biggest fall of all? (From Naiad Press)
Published Naiad Press July 1998
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Murder by the Book
Christmas
time in Berkley, California is coming up grim for Helen Black, Private Investigator.
Clients have been scarce, and her lover, Frieda, is no happier about this new
profession of Helen's than she was about her previous career as a cop.
Then Helen lands her first important case. Her client is lesbian Donna Forsythe, whose lover is a prime suspect in the death of an employee in a bank vault.
One of eight bank employees has to be guilty. But which one, and why? Why was only two hundred dollars taken from the vault? The Christmas tree in the bank lobby seems significant to the crime - but why? What hidden association did the guilty employee have with the murdered man? And what about Ben, the derelict? Can Helen decipher from his gibberish exactly what he saw on the night of the murder?
Suddenly the roster of suspects is reduced by one... And Helen herself is attacked. Whodunit? And what about Helen's increasingly prickly relationship with Frieda?
Meet Helen Black and accompany her on her first homicide case...Discover author Pat Welch in the debut of an intriguing new mystery series. (From Naiad Press)
Published Naiad Press 1990
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Still Waters
Helen
and Frieda are at a luxury lakeside resort for a weekend that will, hopefully,
mark a new beginning. A weekend to heal the growing rift between them.
The discovery of the battered body of a news reporter on the sandy beach changes everything. Because the victim is an old friend of Helen's, the weekend suddenly turns into a murder investigation and a new case for Private Investigator Helen Black.
Does the story the reporter was working on hold the key? Or is her death an ex-lover's revenge? And what of the attractive, frightened Marta and her link with the enigmatic priest Father John?
Seemingly everyone has secrets. The apparently successful resort is in financial trouble. The hotel guests have their own frictions and deceptions. The angelic beauty of the owner's daughter masks dark needs and is a new element to threaten the fragile relationship between Helen and Frieda. (From Naiad Press)
Published Naiad Press 1991
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A Proper Burial
Celebrated
Berkeley private eye Helen Black returns ... for a case that will test her professional
mettle - not to mention her personal cool.
Cecily Bennett, her newest client, has been brought to Helen by ex-partner Frieda. But to Helen's consternation, young Cecily has become Frieda's lover. The case itself is a hornet's nest. Cecily's long-absent aunt has been found murdered in an abandoned building near People's Park. Will Bennett, Cecily's father and the Governor's right-hand man, has summoned his considerable influence to muzzle the police investigation and all publicity.
Why exactly did Cecily's aunt return to Berkeley? Roadblocks are thrown up by Cecily's entire family - especially the fierce, tyrannical matriarch, Lydia.
To further complicate matters, a suspicious reporter is investigating Will Bennett and the project he leads, a soon-to-be-unveiled pilot program to aid troubled young people. What does the investigative reporter know? How will Helen get around Will Bennett's power? And what will Helen do about Cecily's sudden and disconcerting attraction to her? What about Helen's unfinished business with Frieda?
You'll enjoy this latest entry in one of the most popular and interesting mystery series around. (From Naiad Press)
Published Naiad Press 1993
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Open House
To most people, a call
in the middle of the night means family trouble. But Helen Black's family disowned
her years ago. But the call is indeed from Helen's family. Great Aunt Ruth has
passed on, and, inexplicably, left Helen her house.
And so Helen journeys from Berkeley, from partner Frieda, to return to her roots in Mississippi. To look once more into the face of the father who repudiated her. Into the face of the woman who was her childhood sweetheart and is now a cop.
But Helen finds far more than she could ever imagine. A dying grandfather, and small town secrets, one of them contained in the very house that is now hers. She finds murder, and submerged intrigue that harkens all the way back to a deeply stained period of history in the American south.
Says Booklist about Pat Welch, "...a captivating writer (who) builds a convincing story to an exciting climax..." Says the prestigious Library Journal, "... This series is recommended." "...an excellent writer," says Kentucky's Your Paper, "who knows what is takes to keep her readers turning pages." (From Naiad Press)
Published Naiad Press 1995
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Smoke and Mirrors
From the
pen of best-selling mystery writer Pat Welch comes the most electrifying chapter
of her high-voltage series featuring Berkeley private eye Helen Black.
When a community health clinic is besieged by anti-abortion protestors, Helen Black's ex-lover begs her to help. Realizing that the only way to get information is from the inside, Helen goes under cover and infiltrates the extremist group. Considering all that Helen's been through in the past, the case seems rather routine - until the threats and vandalism escalate to murder! (From Naiad Press)
Published Naiad Press 1996
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Page created by Leone Moffat.
Last updated April 24, 2002