Copyright © 2010 by Rosemary Herbert

Cover photograph © iStockphoto.com/4971695

ISBN: 978-0-89272-852-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Herbert, Rosemary.

Front page teaser : a Liz Higgins mystery / by Rosemary Herbert.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-89272-852-7 (trade pbk. : alk. paper)

1. Women journalists--Fiction. 2. Boston (Mass.)--Fiction. I. Title.

PS3608.E7296F76 2010

813’.6--dc22

2010012133

Designed by Lynda Chilton

Printed at Versa Press, East Peoria, Illinois

5 4 3 2 1

Distributed to the trade by National Book Network

This book is a work of fiction. While some of the landscapes, businesses, and other venues may be recognized as actual places—or may be seen to be based on actual places—all of the action that occurs in them is entirely a work of the imagination. The author does not recommend that readers assume they may have access to any properties shown herein, especially including university libraries or private landscapes. Similarly, with the exception of the cat Prudence and mystery writer Mary Higgins Clark, the characters portrayed within the pages of this book are entirely fictional, although a few friends and family members have graciously allowed the author to borrow their names or create variations upon them. While a former mayor of the City of Newton reportedly gave Fig Newton cookies to visitors, the Newton mayor depicted here is not that man. The author would also like to emphasize that the names of the fictional characters in these pages who are shown as associated with terrorism are chosen randomly. The author neither possesses knowledge of terrorist networks nor of individuals who are involved in such activities, nor does anyone who advised her about any aspect of this book. While sometimes the characters in this book refer to the Beantown Banner simply as “the Banner,” this is not to be confused with the Bay State Banner newspaper, of which this author has no experience.

Books by Rosemary Herbert

A New Omnibus of Crime, co–edited with Tony Hillerman

Whodunit? A Who’s Who in Crime & Mystery Writing

The Oxford Companion to Crime & Mystery Writing

Murder on Deck! Shipboard & Shoreline Mystery Stories (Oxford University Press)

Twelve American Crime Stories

The Oxford Book of American Detective Stories, co-edited with Tony Hillerman

The Fatal Art of Entertainment: Interviews with Mystery Writers

For Bill Wyman

—who truly knows how to celebrate Christmas—

with love and gratitude

And to the worlds of the newsroom

and public and academic libraries.

May newspaper journalism find its way and thrive again

even as technology changes, because a free press

staffed by professional reporters and editors

is nothing short of fundamental to a democratic society.

Similarly, another foundation of democracy

may be found in libraries, where staff members

protect patron privacy while they also dedicate their

efforts to ensuring freedom of access
to information.