A Real Shot In The Arm Author:Annette Roome Wry, self deprecating Chris Martin felt dead from the neck up until she took a job as a reporter and dead from teh neck down until Pete Schiavo touched her. To cheer herself up, Chris would invent new ways to irritate her husband or, failing that, have a good session with the vacuum cleaner and dustcloth. When Chris discovers a dead body hangi... more »ng on the fire escape during one of her assinments, her sheltered existence suffers a jolt. As she and her attractive colleague, Pete, look into the victims background, they uncover corruption, police intimidation and blackmail- three things Chrid would never have suspected of her safe, suburban neighborhood. A real shot in the arm won the Joohn Creasy Memorial Award for best first mystery novel in 1989.« less