Poison Pen is a captivating and pleasurable amateur sleuth mystery. It is well-written with well defined
characterization that holds your attention and keeps you guessing to the very end. I especially enjoyed the
handwriting analysis revealed in the book and found it fascinating.
Claudia Rose, a handwriting analyst, attends the funeral of publicist to the stars and to former friend Lindsay
Alexander. Claudia and her best friend, Kelly Brennan, had been friends with Lindsay many moons ago, but due to
Lindsay's backstabbing and acts of treachery, the friendships soon fell to pieces. Lindsay was a self-serving
ball-buster, but brutal truths like that didn't belong in a eulogy. Lindsay was not a well liked person and had
made more than her share of enemies over the years.
Ivan Novak, Lindsay's close friend and business manager, doesn't believe Lindsay committed suicide - he
believes she was murdered, and he hires Claudia to analyze what is believed to be Lindsay's suicide note. The
suicide note, written in block printing, simply says "it was fun while it lasted" and was found next to Lindsay's
body. Seems strange?
Claudia begins uncovering a lot of secrets about Lindsay's childhood and activities Lindsay was involved in
prior to her death (and all this by just trying to obtain a sample of Lindsay's writing to analyze). Joel Jovanic,
the detective in charge of Ivan's brutal assault, and Claudia join forces to solve this rather bizarre puzzle.