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Lieutenant Luis Mendoza #17
Schooled to Kill
The sixteenth Luis Mendoza book follows the men of the LAPD as they try to solve murder, and find the rapist of an eight year old girl before he kills again.
Introduces Cedric, the English sheep dog.
Introduces Cedric, the English sheep dog.
- GenresMysteryProcedural
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1969
7 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
Dell Shannon
157 books24 followersPseudonym of Elizabeth Linington.
Barbara "Elizabeth" Linington (March 11, 1921 – April 5, 1988) was an American novelist. She was awarded runner-up scrolls for best first mystery novel from the Mystery Writers of America for her 1960 novel, Case Pending, which introduced her most popular series character, LAPD Homicide Lieutenant Luis Mendoza. Her 1961 book, Nightmare, and her 1962 novel, Knave of Hearts, another entry in the Mendoza series, were both nominated for Edgars in the Best Novel category. Regarded as the "Queen of the Procedurals," she was one of the first women to write police procedurals — a male-dominated genre of police-story writing.
Besides crime, Linington also took interest in archaeology, the occult, gemstones, antique weapons and languages. Linington was also a conservative political activist who was an active member of the John Birch Society
Barbara "Elizabeth" Linington (March 11, 1921 – April 5, 1988) was an American novelist. She was awarded runner-up scrolls for best first mystery novel from the Mystery Writers of America for her 1960 novel, Case Pending, which introduced her most popular series character, LAPD Homicide Lieutenant Luis Mendoza. Her 1961 book, Nightmare, and her 1962 novel, Knave of Hearts, another entry in the Mendoza series, were both nominated for Edgars in the Best Novel category. Regarded as the "Queen of the Procedurals," she was one of the first women to write police procedurals — a male-dominated genre of police-story writing.
Besides crime, Linington also took interest in archaeology, the occult, gemstones, antique weapons and languages. Linington was also a conservative political activist who was an active member of the John Birch Society
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 1, 2023
Another excellent read, although this one has a truly distressing situation with a child rapist-killer.
Just as a note: this book has two scenes where Mendoza swears that he's going to get a siren installed in his Ferrari before he's a week older.
We leap into the book with an accident involving a young English Sheepdog. He is thrown clear, but the crowds and the screaming and the sound of an approaching siren panics him, and he flees into the Hollywood area. He's a philosophical sort, but no dog likes being lost, and when he meets a friendly woman whose car smells of children and cats, the dog wiggles in through a window. (Someone should tell Alison that it's never a good idea to leave a car window wide open on a city street.)
In Mendoza's department, the first rape-killing is already done, although they don't know it yet. Little Marla Perkins has been missing for four days, and everyone is reasonably certain that she is dead--which doesn't make it easier when her body is finally discovered in an out-of-the-way area of a park. Everyone--not just the men who have little girls at home--is out for blood. They discover that the search has been delayed because Marla's mother did not think to tell them that Marla was used to visiting a neighbor a few blocks from her home, and that she may have actually been in that area when she vanished. They have to start the whole questioning process all over again in a different area, but eventually learn that Marla had been picked up off the street by someone in a pickup truck--and that she seemed to have gone willingly.
In the meantime, everyone is stunned to find that another little girl has gone missing. The search gets underway immediately--but it is still too late. Shy little Alice, only child of her parents, is gone. I liked the way that Shannon, without going into graphic detail, nevertheless made the scene quite clear to the reader. "All of the men had looked once at Alice's face, and then not again. She had been very frightened." You don't need a graphic description; imagination does the job only too well.
I confess that I found the police attitude a little confusing. Everyone is bewildered because Marla had been properly cautioned about strangers, and Alice was too shy to let any such person near her...yet the possibility that the killer was NOT a stranger doesn't occur to them for a long while, and then they think that it might be a "familiar stranger"--a person the children were not acquainted with, but saw often enough in passing that they wouldn't think twice about coming up to him.
Another case involves a woman found in a public restroom, having suffered a massive hemorrhage following a botched abortion. They manage to identity the woman, but cannot understand what she was doing out on her own so soon afterwards, instead of being looked after. Palliser, meeting up with Percy Andrews of Vice by chance, makes a brilliant mental jump and asks him if they had recently made a raid on a local abortionist. The poor woman had been shoved out a back door, but had left her fingerprints conveniently behind.
Higgins is happily enjoying his new family, and Palliser and his Robin are house-hunting. Piggott has nerved himself up to ask fellow choir member Prudence Russell on a date. And the English Sheepdog, named Cedric, is being psychoanalyzed by Bast, while Alison wonders why no one has responded to her ads. In a fun little scene, Bast concludes that the shaggy creature is no threat, and he doesn't mind if the cats steal his food.
Mendoza and his men are pointed in the wrong direction for a time, but things start looking up when little Alice's sweater suddenly shows up on school grounds, where it absolutely had not been before. The lab finds some interesting traces in the fabric. Eventually (and fortunately before anyone else disappears) they find the unbelievable, heartbreaking solution. I have often wondered just what happened in that neighborhood when the full truth came out....
By chance, Mendoza learns of the accident that cost Cedric his family, and Alison sadly takes him to meet the woman who had been asking about the missing dog--because he was valuable. (In point of fact, Cedric cannot be considered especially valuable, because he has a flaw--his "wall-eye". Pedigreed or not, he would only be considered "pet quality".) Alison and Cedric quickly realize that the woman has not the slightest interest in him, so Alison makes the decision that you could see coming from the first chapter. Mendoza doesn't really mind--because his cats like the dog, and what the cats want, the cats get.
Just as a note: this book has two scenes where Mendoza swears that he's going to get a siren installed in his Ferrari before he's a week older.
We leap into the book with an accident involving a young English Sheepdog. He is thrown clear, but the crowds and the screaming and the sound of an approaching siren panics him, and he flees into the Hollywood area. He's a philosophical sort, but no dog likes being lost, and when he meets a friendly woman whose car smells of children and cats, the dog wiggles in through a window. (Someone should tell Alison that it's never a good idea to leave a car window wide open on a city street.)
In Mendoza's department, the first rape-killing is already done, although they don't know it yet. Little Marla Perkins has been missing for four days, and everyone is reasonably certain that she is dead--which doesn't make it easier when her body is finally discovered in an out-of-the-way area of a park. Everyone--not just the men who have little girls at home--is out for blood. They discover that the search has been delayed because Marla's mother did not think to tell them that Marla was used to visiting a neighbor a few blocks from her home, and that she may have actually been in that area when she vanished. They have to start the whole questioning process all over again in a different area, but eventually learn that Marla had been picked up off the street by someone in a pickup truck--and that she seemed to have gone willingly.
In the meantime, everyone is stunned to find that another little girl has gone missing. The search gets underway immediately--but it is still too late. Shy little Alice, only child of her parents, is gone. I liked the way that Shannon, without going into graphic detail, nevertheless made the scene quite clear to the reader. "All of the men had looked once at Alice's face, and then not again. She had been very frightened." You don't need a graphic description; imagination does the job only too well.
I confess that I found the police attitude a little confusing. Everyone is bewildered because Marla had been properly cautioned about strangers, and Alice was too shy to let any such person near her...yet the possibility that the killer was NOT a stranger doesn't occur to them for a long while, and then they think that it might be a "familiar stranger"--a person the children were not acquainted with, but saw often enough in passing that they wouldn't think twice about coming up to him.
Another case involves a woman found in a public restroom, having suffered a massive hemorrhage following a botched abortion. They manage to identity the woman, but cannot understand what she was doing out on her own so soon afterwards, instead of being looked after. Palliser, meeting up with Percy Andrews of Vice by chance, makes a brilliant mental jump and asks him if they had recently made a raid on a local abortionist. The poor woman had been shoved out a back door, but had left her fingerprints conveniently behind.
Higgins is happily enjoying his new family, and Palliser and his Robin are house-hunting. Piggott has nerved himself up to ask fellow choir member Prudence Russell on a date. And the English Sheepdog, named Cedric, is being psychoanalyzed by Bast, while Alison wonders why no one has responded to her ads. In a fun little scene, Bast concludes that the shaggy creature is no threat, and he doesn't mind if the cats steal his food.
Mendoza and his men are pointed in the wrong direction for a time, but things start looking up when little Alice's sweater suddenly shows up on school grounds, where it absolutely had not been before. The lab finds some interesting traces in the fabric. Eventually (and fortunately before anyone else disappears) they find the unbelievable, heartbreaking solution. I have often wondered just what happened in that neighborhood when the full truth came out....
By chance, Mendoza learns of the accident that cost Cedric his family, and Alison sadly takes him to meet the woman who had been asking about the missing dog--because he was valuable. (In point of fact, Cedric cannot be considered especially valuable, because he has a flaw--his "wall-eye". Pedigreed or not, he would only be considered "pet quality".) Alison and Cedric quickly realize that the woman has not the slightest interest in him, so Alison makes the decision that you could see coming from the first chapter. Mendoza doesn't really mind--because his cats like the dog, and what the cats want, the cats get.
January 27, 2020
I have not read a Shannon in a few months, so I can't really compare this to the earlier books in this series, but I think it is one of the better ones.
The Luis Mendoza books all realistically portray that police have to work on multiple crimes at a time. But this time, there is major focus on one situation, the rape and murder of two young girls. This is not normally the kind of thing I enjoy reading, but Shannon handles it well, so the story is not sensationalized. And as always the tedium and meticulousness of police work comes through strongly. It is more difficult than usual to guess which leads will pan out here, than it has been in earlier books in the series.
There are several other stories here, of course, including death from a backstreet abortion. Shannon may well have been ahead of her time in dealing with difficult subjects like this and the one in the above paragraph.
As always, Shannon is masterful in reproducing the speech patterns of the various Los Angelinos who appear in the story. On the other hand, I know very little about small children, but Mendoza's 2.5 year old twins seem rather precocious verbally.
I have never liked the Mendoza cats all that much as a plot element, but the addition of Cedric the dog is a step forward.
And again as usual, Shannon has no sympathy for the rights of the accused, and several times in this story criticizes judges for simply administering the law. Now added to the mix is a pro-NRA perspective -- it is too easy for criminals to get guns, but totally appropriate for law-abiding citizens to have them for self-protection. I'm never sure how this policy tension can be resolved, but Shannon does not struggle with gray areas involved in major legal and social issues.
Finally, while all the women in this story are traditional 1960's housewives, this does not seem inappropriate for the time Shannon was writing, though it is late enough in the 1960's that she might have shown at least some awareness of the new proposals for the role(s) women should play in society.
The Luis Mendoza books all realistically portray that police have to work on multiple crimes at a time. But this time, there is major focus on one situation, the rape and murder of two young girls. This is not normally the kind of thing I enjoy reading, but Shannon handles it well, so the story is not sensationalized. And as always the tedium and meticulousness of police work comes through strongly. It is more difficult than usual to guess which leads will pan out here, than it has been in earlier books in the series.
There are several other stories here, of course, including death from a backstreet abortion. Shannon may well have been ahead of her time in dealing with difficult subjects like this and the one in the above paragraph.
As always, Shannon is masterful in reproducing the speech patterns of the various Los Angelinos who appear in the story. On the other hand, I know very little about small children, but Mendoza's 2.5 year old twins seem rather precocious verbally.
I have never liked the Mendoza cats all that much as a plot element, but the addition of Cedric the dog is a step forward.
And again as usual, Shannon has no sympathy for the rights of the accused, and several times in this story criticizes judges for simply administering the law. Now added to the mix is a pro-NRA perspective -- it is too easy for criminals to get guns, but totally appropriate for law-abiding citizens to have them for self-protection. I'm never sure how this policy tension can be resolved, but Shannon does not struggle with gray areas involved in major legal and social issues.
Finally, while all the women in this story are traditional 1960's housewives, this does not seem inappropriate for the time Shannon was writing, though it is late enough in the 1960's that she might have shown at least some awareness of the new proposals for the role(s) women should play in society.
October 24, 2018
This Mendoza book centers primarily on the rape/murder of two little girls who go to the same school. All the men are anxious to stop the perpetrator, and they spend the entire book trying to find him. Along the way, of course, a lot of other cases come up that they must work on too. This is also the book where Mendoza's wife Alison comes back to her car one day to find a huge sheepdog named Cedric in her back seat. Of course she takes him home when she can find no one in the neighborhood who knows him; which Mendoza and their four cats are not happy about, but their twins love! When his owner is finally discovered, Mendoza insists that he be returned. The Cedric thread adds a note of humor to the sad stories the police usually deal with. I read this in one day - couldn't put it down!
May 4, 2020
Two little girls have been raped and murdered, and every available officer in The Los Angeles Police Department is on the case. Lieutenant Luis Mendoza's team meticulously make enquiries: there's house-to-house checking, and exact tracing of the girl's movements between home and school. No stone is left unturned to apprehend the killer. In the meantime, Mendoza's artist wife Alison brings home a lost Old English sheepdog named Cedric, who is immediately taken in hand by the 4-year-old twins and the family Siamese cats. My personal favorite of Shannon's Lt. Mendoza mysteries.
July 24, 2021
Another excellent Lt. Mendoza mystery. This is the 16th in the series; not the 17th. Having read this one and started the next, I can say this is a fact. Although they were both published in 1969, to keep continuity this book is better read first. Of course, being me, I was most interested in the shaggy dog story in the background. A new pet is added in addition to El Senor, alcholic Siamese, Bast and their kittens Nefertiti and Sheba. Cedric manages to charm everyone in the end and it's very entertaining reading. Oh, and they also solve a murder or two. Recommended.
December 14, 2025
This is book 16, not book 17.
Cedric is a welcome addition to the series.
You do need to remind yourself of when the book was written, and that the world is different now.
Looking forward to the next book in the series.
Cedric is a welcome addition to the series.
You do need to remind yourself of when the book was written, and that the world is different now.
Looking forward to the next book in the series.
December 3, 2022
I guessed who the murdering paedophile was immediately....
June 16, 2008
A good sturdy piece of the series. Not as exciting as some of the Mendoza works, but still workmanlike and interesting.
July 12, 2016
Read this one back in the 80's. Always enjoyed the Luis Mendoza series.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews