Kathryn Reiss. PaperQuake: A Puzzle (1998) (A Time Travel Mystery) 264 pp.
Violet Jackstone is the odd sibling out of a set of triplets. She lives in Berkeley and wants to be like her sisters, Jasmine and Rose: tall, blonde, and able to understand the “twin” language. Violet wants to dye her hair to match her sisters, but after a series of earthquakes hit the Bay Area, matching her sisters doesn’ t seem so important anymore. When her parents, Greg and Lily Jackstone, owners of Jackstone Flowers, decide to open up a third flower shop in San Francisco, the building they buy on Chance Street has a shadowy past that Violet is destined to discover. It starts with one letter, beginning “Poor Baby V” and signed “Your Hal.” In between, Hal expresses his feelings for “his Baby V.” Convinced the letter is for her, because of the references to “those abominable twins,” Violet confronts Jasmine and Rose, asking them if the letter is a joke that they are playing on her. After showing the letter to her sisters, she realizes that the letter is not a joke. But, Violet still wonders why there are so many references to things that have meaning for her. The mystery deepens when Violet finds still more letters in her parents’ shop, revealing more details of the lives of V, Hal, and others. This book shows how closely the past, present, and future are related, and how, if you look, you can find parallels between them. Maybe even parallels that can save lives…
Settings: Berkeley; San Francisco