Pauline C. Smith (1908-1994) was the author of several novels and many short stories, including the Edgar Award finalist My Daughter is Dead, published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.
Los Angeles. 1962. The body of Mary Barnes is found in a seedy hotel,... with a bloody X carved into her breast. Is it a signature? Or something else? Laine has been investigating homicides for the L.A. Sheriff's department for years, rolling streets as pallid as a tired prostitute, but this case is different. Why was Mary in a cheap hotel, and where was the baby that she'd recently given birth to? His search for the answer could lead him to a truth that's too dark and unsettling even for him, a hard man who believes he's already seen the worst horrors the city has to hide.