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Skeeter Hughes Mystery #2
Whose Hand?
When a flustered fisherman pulls a hand from Minneapolis' Lake Harriet, then loses it back to the depths, newspaper reporter Skeeter Hughes finds herself caught in a swirl of mystery and adventure in her search for the deceased owner.
Is it the eighteen-year-old runaway with a college scholarship waiting for her? Or the Nazi holocaust survivor turned successful furrier? Could it be the thirty-something research director for a manufacturer of medical devices? Or, none of the above?
Despite the pressures from a career always in jeopardy, a husband on the lam and the twenty-four/seven job of mother, Hughes' finds the solution lies in the answer answer to the question, WHOSE HAND?
Is it the eighteen-year-old runaway with a college scholarship waiting for her? Or the Nazi holocaust survivor turned successful furrier? Could it be the thirty-something research director for a manufacturer of medical devices? Or, none of the above?
Despite the pressures from a career always in jeopardy, a husband on the lam and the twenty-four/seven job of mother, Hughes' finds the solution lies in the answer answer to the question, WHOSE HAND?
- GenresMystery
205 pages, Kindle Edition
2 people are currently reading
80 people want to read
About the author
Judith Yates Borger
13 books24 followersI started getting paid for my writing when I was a 16-year-old correspondent from my high school for the local newspaper. From there it was on to a degree in journalism from Michigan State University, then a couple of jobs as a reporter in New Haven, Conn. Along the way I married the editor of our college newspaper and moved to Minneapolis. I was a magazine editor for a few years. While raising three kids I sandwiched in work as a freelance writer. When my youngest went to school I returned to the daily grind as a reporter covering health care. My last newspaper job was at the St. Paul Pioneer Press where I collaborated on a year's worth of articles that won the other guy a Pulitzer Prize. A couple years later when the Pioneer Press refused to pay for my car which was firebombed while I was covering a riot, I decided it was time to get a new gig, and began writing fiction, for the first time. Three books, three short stories and four grandsons later, I'm delighted to be an author.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 12, 2013
This is the second in Yates Borger's Skeeter Hughes series and she shows the confidence of a veteran. When a fisherman claims to have pulled up a hand while fishing in a Minneapolis lake, newspaper reporter Hughes goes to work trying to determine which missing person might belong to it. But unlike many mystery stories, this one branches out into three separate tales. And like any good newspaper reporter, Hughes follows and reports on each one until she finds the likely corpse. Each of the three threads are well-crafted. I also like her setting this in a Minnesota winter. Yates Borger makes the reader feel the cold and dark and the climax in a fishing shack is crackerjack.
July 6, 2011
Journalist Skeeter Hughes is the quintessential single working mom. She has two daughters aged nine and 14 and is separated from her husband, Michael. One might even call her typical, if her job didn't include dumpster-diving and being threatened by criminals.
Skeeter works for the Minneapolis Citizen, and as this book begins, she is meeting with a retired veteran called BJ, who claimed to have caught a human hand while fishing in Lake Harriet the previous October. At first Skeeter is skeptical; this is February, and the man shows all the signs of being a drinker. But after listening to his entire story, her instincts tell her to believe him.
When she returns to her office, she learns that has just been appointed the paper's first Missing Persons reporter. On her first assignment, she is given the names of three missing people: Pace Palmer, a nurse who hadn't returned from vacation; Yuri Yudeshenka, a retired furrier; and Amber Thomas, an eighteen-year-old girl. Perhaps the hand belonged to one of them?
Skeeter is dedicated and persistent, and though she's uncertain of the veracity of BJ's story, and has very little to go on in the missing persons cases, she knows how to dig. Knowing the precariousness of being a journalist these days, she is determined not to provide any reason to be considered expendable.
Borger has created a strong, likeable, and very believable protagonist in Skeeter. She has an amazing hand with descriptions:
I studied the crags in the old man's wind-burned face. His gold and silver hair was pulled into a ponytail at the nape of his neck, leaving his bald head open to the elements. The ragged collar of a black T-shirt peeked through the v-neck of a dirty blue-green sweater with a run in the left sleeve. Nicotine had stained the dirty fingernails on the left thumb and forefinger he used to grip his ceramic coffee mug.
This is not the only Skeeter Hughes novel; it's the sequel to Where's Billie? (2009). Hopefully, there will be a third volume in the series soon.
Skeeter works for the Minneapolis Citizen, and as this book begins, she is meeting with a retired veteran called BJ, who claimed to have caught a human hand while fishing in Lake Harriet the previous October. At first Skeeter is skeptical; this is February, and the man shows all the signs of being a drinker. But after listening to his entire story, her instincts tell her to believe him.
When she returns to her office, she learns that has just been appointed the paper's first Missing Persons reporter. On her first assignment, she is given the names of three missing people: Pace Palmer, a nurse who hadn't returned from vacation; Yuri Yudeshenka, a retired furrier; and Amber Thomas, an eighteen-year-old girl. Perhaps the hand belonged to one of them?
Skeeter is dedicated and persistent, and though she's uncertain of the veracity of BJ's story, and has very little to go on in the missing persons cases, she knows how to dig. Knowing the precariousness of being a journalist these days, she is determined not to provide any reason to be considered expendable.
Borger has created a strong, likeable, and very believable protagonist in Skeeter. She has an amazing hand with descriptions:
I studied the crags in the old man's wind-burned face. His gold and silver hair was pulled into a ponytail at the nape of his neck, leaving his bald head open to the elements. The ragged collar of a black T-shirt peeked through the v-neck of a dirty blue-green sweater with a run in the left sleeve. Nicotine had stained the dirty fingernails on the left thumb and forefinger he used to grip his ceramic coffee mug.
This is not the only Skeeter Hughes novel; it's the sequel to Where's Billie? (2009). Hopefully, there will be a third volume in the series soon.
June 30, 2017
A murder, animal abuse of exotic animals, and fthe failing of the print media from a reporter’s point of view.
I had a hard time connecting to the characters and I am not sure I have yet. Yet the mystery was interesting and had plenty of twists and turns.
199
I had a hard time connecting to the characters and I am not sure I have yet. Yet the mystery was interesting and had plenty of twists and turns.
199
August 5, 2019
I have come into yet another series midway, it seems. Whose Hand is book two featuring investigative reporter Skeeter Hughes. The author herself is a journalist and her writing chops show through quite clearly. The story is tight, to the point, and incredibly interesting as you follow Skeeter as she chases down a story that everyone keeps telling her is an old urban legend.
Another body and mobsters later and even the big boys are sitting up and taking notice.
Fast paced with action at every turn, this plucky little mystery will keep you turning pages.
Another body and mobsters later and even the big boys are sitting up and taking notice.
Fast paced with action at every turn, this plucky little mystery will keep you turning pages.
April 17, 2016
I contemplated taking this book off the list several times, but each time I read the other people's reviews and got too curious to skip it. I'm kind of glad I didn't. It was a solid little mystery framed with interesting personal interactions. If I agree with many of the reviewers who said that the detective (actually a reporter) ought to spend a little more time on her family and a little less time lolly-gaggling around and putting herself in mortal peril...well...it didn't spoil the story for me.
October 7, 2011
A ripping yarn, literally. This second installment builds a stronger bond between the reader and Skeeter Hughes, ace reporter and struggling working mom. Borger draws on true-life crime and real-world newspaper pressures to create a compelling drama with strong pacing and action. I hope we don't have to wait too long for the third installment.
November 10, 2011
Great book...can't wait for the next one!
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December 25, 2012Kindle
November 2, 2012
Bailed after 100 pages. Preety boring with lead character I cared nothing about.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews