Pat Welch. Fallen From Grace (1998) 244 pp. [tpo]
Publisher’s description: “When downsized corporate executive and closeted lesbian Leslie Merrick takes a nose dive from an eighth-story window, the cops jump to the conclusion that her death is a suicide. Hired by the dead woman’s mother to clear her daughter’s reputation, Berkeley PI Helen Black discovers that the multinational conglomerate Merrick worked for is rife with political patronage, corporate treachery, sexual harassment, disgruntled employees, vindictive co-workers, and mysterious “vacations.” Although fallout from the investigation quickly puts the private eye at odds with everyone from her new lover to her former police partner, she uncovers nothing to indicate that Merrick’s death was anything but self-inflicted. Could the woman’s fall have been accidental? Or is Helen Black being set up to take the biggest fall of all?”
Setting: Berkeley
Hubin