Worst Case Scenario

Richard Michaelson #4

by Michael Bowen

Foreign Service veteran Richard Michaelson knows that it is often better to talk to secretaries than big wigs in the political jungles of Washington, DC. But when one such ambitious young secretary turns up dead in a locked hotel room, Michaelson suddenly realizes just how much she knew...and that the killer might now be after him. Now everyone is clamoring to get their hands on the mysterious document in the dead woman's possession. Soon investigators, staffers and liaisons are coming out of the woodwork to keep things quiet. But for Michaelson, solving this mystery could be a matter of life and death.

268 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 15, 1996

About the author

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Jean K · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a resident of the Washington D.C. area who worked for the federal government, it is particularly satisfying to find a Washington D.C. mystery which tells an “only in Washington” story and features believable characters, such as the one described below.

“…had been an ordinary person from an ordinary family in an ordinary town. She’d taken her nothing-special education and her dime-a-dozen degree … to Washington seeking neither wealth nor power nor fame. She’d asked for nothing more than a chance to be a tiny part of something that mattered …

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Retired Foreign Service operative Richard Michaelson goes to a conference in West Virginia to do a favor for a friend. While he's there, he meets Sharon Bedford, who wants his help getting a job. She hints that she's privy to important information, and Richard fears that she's putting herself in danger by telling various people that she has a secret. When she's found dead in a classic locked room situation, most of the conference-goers want to believe it's suicide, but neither Richard nor her boyfriend will go along with that.

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Washington politics move to WV where a conference is being held. An ambitious woman who wants to succeed is peddling a "valuable" document/secret in exchange for a job. The she ends up dead in a classic locked room. The secret was big and the players powerful.

I thought is was a good book not great.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Richard Michaelson is a Washington insider who solves crimes. Okay, no more.