Dereske, Jo. Miss Zukas and the Stroke of Death (New York: Avon Books, 1995) 210 p.

In this continuation of the adventures of Helma Zukas we get to know her co-workers at Bellehaven Public a little better. Ms. May Apple Moon, the library director, is a transplant from California. She calls meetings "harmony circles" and is trying to make the library more popular by organizing overnight camp-outs for gradeschoolers. Ms. Moon had moved to Bellehaven two years earlier, and "although still unaccountably tan, had exchanged her California slenderness for a more Northwest luxuriousness." Roberta Seymour, the Washington history and genealogy librarian is dating George the cataloger but wants to keep it quiet. We also get to know Mrs. Carmon (a circulation clerk), Roger Barnhard, and the aloof, formal Patrice. It seems Helma is in the habit of cutting out pictures from magazines. She enjoys the act of cutting very carefully around objects so as to get the whole item without any of the background.