Missing the Deadline

A case for the books ... As Isabel Long has discovered, a case can come from unexpected people and situations. This time, it's at a poetry reading, where she is approached by Cyrus Nilsson. Once a suspect in a previous case, the noted poet wants her to investigate the shooting of his first literary agent. Gerald Danielson was found shot in the head at his home in Meadows Falls. He survived but isn't the same successful agent who moved there from New York City. The police ruled it an attempted suicide, but Cyrus has his doubts. Certainly there are people, including a vindictive ex-wife, a jilted local writer, and even an apparently devoted sister, who might have motive. It doesn't take much to convince Isabel to take on this case. Afterall, her mother, Maria, who is her 'Watson, ' says it's boring without one. As a journalist, Isabel Long never missed a deadline. She does the same as a P.I. although in this case, the term means something entirely different.