The Shortest Journey

The Shortest Journey by Holt, Hazel. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780312111403.

Sheila Malory enjoys her visits to the West Lodge Nursing Home, where resident Mrs. Jankiewicz offers lively company and interesting gossip about their friends. Since the latest news has the wealthy widow Edith Rossiters scheming daughter, Thelma, pressuring her to sign over a substantial inheritance against her wishes, Sheila suspects the worst when Mrs. Rossiter disappears after a shopping trip. A search of her room reveals that her sleeping pills are missing, and reports circulate of a mysterious man and woman seen speaking to Mrs. Rossiter. But investigations of possible suicide or kidnapping reach a dead end, and only when Sheilas son, Michael, makes a chance discovery while researching in a library does the mystery unravel, revealing a truth more surprising than Sheila could ever have imagined.