Case Pending

The closer he gets to an answer, the more complicated this case gets...Another murder, another unanswered question. And Detective Mendoza hates to leave things undone.Hers was the kind of casual homicide that occurred every week in a city like Los Angeles in the sixties. Beaten, robbed, and left in an abandoned lot, Elena Ramirez's death was like many others... in fact, nearly identical to a murder that happened six months earlier-a case that Detective Luis Mendoza was never able to solve.The detective isn't a fan of puzzles but knows one when he sees it. He puts two and two together-these vicious murders must have been committed by the same deranged individual-and leads the charge into a case that is astounding in its complexity. Along with the begrudging help of Detective-Sergeant Hackett, Mendoza must separate the many twisted threads of this crime-from murder to black-market adoption and extortion.Considered the "queen of the police procedural," Dell Shannon offers a glimpse into the world of police-work before the aid of forensics or technology. An Edgar Award finalist in 1961, Case Pending introduces the Mexican American Detective Mendoza, a dynamic character who will stop at nothing to find answers, working in a Los Angeles that had not forgotten the 1943 "zoot suit" riots targeting young Chicanos.

Bob Reiss captures the expanse, the challenge, and the potential of the changing Arctic, and the clear need for a bold national strategy to realize the promise of this extraordinary frontier.
--Gary Roughead, Admiral, U.S. Navy (Retired) former Chief of Naval Operations

BARBARA "ELIZABETH" LININGTON (1921-1988) was an American novelist and mystery writer. She was one of the first women to write in the style of a police procedural.

The closer he gets to an answer, the more complicated this case gets... Case Pending follows Lieutenant Luis Mendoza as he investigates the murder of a young girl in Southern California. A child disappears on her way home from the roller rink, and her battered body is later found abandoned in an empty lot in Southern California. It's a demoralising scene that gives Lieutenant Luis Mendoza very little evidence to work with. But little does he know that just across town a young man -- oppressed by guilt -- finds a spot of blood on his sleeve and worries that it's happened again... When Mendoza connects the girl's death with that of another woman, the case becomes even more dangerous. Dell Shannon's engrossing mystery captures the essence of a diverse Southern California community that is forced to face the worst parts of itself.

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