The Baxter Letters

by Dolores Hitchens

Terror places its stamp on a woman unwittingly caught up in a dangerous game in this gripping thriller from the author of A Collection of Strangers . Jennifer Burch is just a small-town midwestern girl trying to stay afloat in New York City with her husband, a struggling playwright. But an odd request from her Uncle Baxter promises some relief. Always the black sheep of the family, he’s asked Jennifer to hand-deliver one of the letters he left with her when he last visited—and he’s sent her $300 for her trouble. Since they could use the money, Jennifer complies. But the man she gives it to is soon found dead, stabbed in the lobby of her own apartment building. Asked to deliver another letter for some more money, Jennifer’s suspicions grow. Something happened a long time ago in Central America that connects Baxter to the letter recipients. And now they’re fearing for their lives. Jennifer’s had enough, but her husband hasn’t. He thinks there’s more money to be made if they play their cards right. The only way out now is to uncover the truth—about an international conspiracy of deadly proportions . . . Praise for Dolores Hitchens “High-grade suspense.” — San Francisco Chronicle on Stairway to an Empty Room/Terror Lurks in Darkness “Dolores Hitchens wrote crime novels that were both tough and compassionate, with a sharp eye for the emotional scars that violence leaves.” — MysteryTribune “Almost unbearable suspense . . . Holds the reader to the last punctuation mark.” — Greensboro News & Record on The Grudge

189 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Julia Clara Catharine Dolores Birk Olsen Hitchens, better known as Dolores Hitchens, was an American mystery novelist who wrote prolifically from 1938 until her death. She also wrote under the pseudonyms D.B. Olsen, Dolan Birkley and Noel Burke.

Hitchens collaborated on five railroad mysteries with her second husband, Bert Hitchens, a railroad detective, and also branched out into other genres in her writing, including Western stories. Many of her mystery novels centered around a spinster character named Rachel Murdock.

Hitchens wrote Fool's Gold, the 1958 novel adapted by Jean-Luc Godard for his film Bande à part (Band of Outsiders, 1964).

Reviews

[Mare · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable, edge-of-your-seat story.