To Helvetica and Back

You'd be hard pressed to find many typewriter users in this day or I-Pads, tablets, phones and other electronic devices. In To Helvetica and Back (love the title) by Paige Shelton, The Rescued Word, owned by Chester Henry and his adult granddaughter Clare, repair old typewriters and restore old books.

In the beautifully scenic town of Star City, Colorado,Clare is working on the restoration of an old edition of Tom Sawyer. Chester old friend Mirabelle needs her old manual Underwood typewriter repaired because the "L" key is sticking. Clare knows how much Mirabelle loves her typewriter so she promises to repair it.

When a strange man comes in asking to purchase the typewriter, Clare of course, refuses, but the man becomes threatening. A quick call to 911 sends the belligerent man on his way. Unfortunately the next morning, Clare finds him dead behind the shop

Neither Chester nor Clare have alibis and the police seem to think they might be suspects. Not

deterred by this false accusation, especially because Clare's ex-boyfriend Creighton is involved in the investigation, she decides to closely inspect the Underwood to see what the attraction is.

While inspecting the keys, Clare finds a series of numbers and letters scratched into the bars of the keys. Mirabelle has no idea what they mean. Could the numbers connect to the dead man behind the store?

In their search for the killer Clare and her police officer friend Jodie (sister to Creighton) join a band of motorcyclist in a goat relocation project, find themselves in a rough bar and suspect the owner of the Tom Sawyer edition of being the killer. The story weaves its way through to an unlikely, but interesting conclusion given Colorado's silver mining history.