When Anna Beth Roper hires the beautiful Laura Bellows to replace Jane Evans, a waitress who failed to come to work one morning, Roper soon realizes there's more to Laura than just a pretty face. After Jane and a slick gambler turn up murdered, Palm Springs detectives begin to show up at the Cafe Respect on a regular basis.
Roper is the ringmaster at the cafe, but it's her customers who perform—Ramon Patencio, the handsome Indian big shot from the Spa Casino; Virginia, his dart throwing secretary whose projectiles might include more than just four-letter words; Roxanna, Roper's fortune telling mother; the bald-headed Curly Bill Smuin, proprietor of the Glad Hand Saloon up the street; a Puerto Rican cook whose chili-soaked specials once caused a law suit; the F.B.I.—and does Palm Springs  Detective Logan Kind only have one hand?

The Palm Springs in Cafe Respect isn't about golf courses and movie stars—it's full of suspect friendships, slow mystery, poignant love, Indian Casinos that sprout up in the desert faster than the yearly crops, and a knife-wielding killer whose shrewd disguises blend in with long time losers.

www.stevescottwriter.com

Revised: 02/17/06
 Copyright © 2006